Jenna Ortega says she'll no longer compliment fans after being made to feel like a 'creep'

Jenna Ortega has said she is 'done' complimenting people who dress up in her iconic Wednesday costume for Halloween after branding herself a 'creep'.

The Disney Channel star has opened up about the one piece of media training that 'never left' her, after admitting that meeting her fans in real life is 'a lot'.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actress said: "They told us, you know, 'Every time someone meets you, it’s probably the only time they’re ever going to interact with you, like that’s a very special moment in their lives. So just be aware of that'."

"Sometimes I try to give myself grace, and I’m trying to have better boundaries," she added.

But the 24-year-old also opened up about feeling like a 'creep' after complimenting fans she has seen dressed up as her Wednesday character.

Speaking on Greatest Hits Radio, host Zoe Ball asked the Scream actor if she would ever be 'tempted' to dress up as the spooky icon for halloween.

The star has opened up about the media training she received while on Disney Channel. (Michael Loccisano/WireImage)

"Not as myself, no," she said, firmly.

Ortega went onto recall a time she saw a little girl dressed as Enid - Wednesday’s roommate in the hit series, in New York, but the interaction didn't go quite as she planned.

"I saw this Enid and I said, 'oh my God, I love your costume, you look great'. And she looked at me like I was a creep."

And the same thing happened with a 'six-year-old blonde girl'.

"Her wig was falling off," she explained, "And I told her, 'oh, you look so beautiful'. And she looked at me and then ran back to her classmates."

The star says she now just 'leaves them be', as she added: "I’m done in that department."

She was given specific advice about interacting with fans. (Gilbert Flores/2026GG/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Speaking about interacting with small fans she meets out and about, the actress added: "Kids and things like that, of course. It is a lot though.

"And, again, it’s sweet. Some of the interactions are so sweet, and then some of them are a little bit more embarrassing or aggressive or mean. And it’s hard to know what the balance is. But you just… I do what I can."

Ortega first rose to fame as a child actor, appearing in the Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle from 2016 to 2018, before landing a role in the hit Netflix thriller You in 2019.

But it was, of course, her 2022 portrayal of Wednesday Addams in Netflix's hit series that catapulted her to international stardom.