Olivia Rodrigo Says Treatment of Britney Spears Is 'HORRIFIC'
By MLC on August 5, 2021 at 6:35 PM EDT
Olivia Rodrigo may only be 18-years-old and just shot to superstardom, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t horrified by the dark side of Hollywood.
The “Good For U” singer recently sat down with GQ where she talked about overnight fame, growing up Disney, and Britney Spears.
The “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” star got her start on Disney in “Bizaardvark” as Paige Olvera.
She then landed the role of Nina “Nini” Salazar-Roberts on ‘HSMTMTS’ where she wrote and performed original songs which landed her a contract with Geffen Records.
Many fans believe the inspiration behind her debut single, “Driver’s License,” spurred from a romance she had with her ‘HSMTMTS’ co-star, Joshua Bassett.
Earlier this year, all anyone could talk about was the rumored love triangle between Rodrigo, Bassett, and Sabrina Carpenter.
While no one involved in the “love triangle” has openly confirmed relationships or cheating, the back-and-forth of lyrics between Rodrigo and Carpenter are confirmation enough.
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When speculation around the inspiration behind “Drivers License” began, she opted to stay off TikTok for six months, she told GQ.
When Courtney Love took aim at Rodrigo for plagiarizing, she responded, “To be honest, I'm just flattered that Courtney Love knows that I exist.”
Rodrigo asked her producer not to watch ‘HSMTMTS’ because she wants to keep her on-screen career separate from her music career.
“I've always just wanted to be taken seriously as a singer-songwriter—not that being an actor takes away from that at all. I wanted him to know me for me and not the side character that I was playing,” she told the publication. “I also just get really self-conscious about stuff like that, on a human level. I hate it when my friends listen to my songs or watch anything related. I'm just like, ‘I don't want you to. Just talk to me.’ I get insecure about it."
Many famous singers like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake got their start with Disney. Rodrigo seems to be following in their footsteps (slightly).
FREE BRITNEY!
Rodrigo got her start in entertainment on Disney.
Britney Spears is tirelessly working to get her father, Jamie Spears, out of her conservatorship. The Blast has covered her conservatorship battle extensively
Countless celebrities have spoken out about Britney’s battle and Rodrigo has some thoughts on it as well.
“The Britney stuff was just horrific, and I've been following it very closely. I think it's just so awful,” she told GQ. “I think, as an industry, people are getting better at not taking advantage of and manipulating and bullying young women. But it's still so apparent, and I witness that too. Not near at the level that Britney has, obviously. I think that's an important paradigm that I hope that we'll be able to break in the coming generations.”
“I've definitely seen corporate dollars be prioritized over people's mental health. That's always been something that I've been really conscious of in my own career, and I'm really lucky I'm surrounded by people who are conscious of that and conscious of my mental health being the most important thing. You can't make art and have a good career if you're not there,” she continued.
