Vanessa Hudgens on Naked Photo Scandal: "That Was By Far the Worst Moment of My Career"

Plus, actress talks about crossing the bridge from a Disney star to taking on more edgier roles

By Bruna Nessif Feb 20, 2013 4:14 AMTags
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A number of celebs have fallen victim to the sexy-naked-photo-gone-public scandal, and Vanessa Hudgens is no exception.

In the latest issue of Paper magazine, the former High School Musical star touched upon the infamous moment in 2007 when compromising pictures of the then-Disney star went wide on the Internet.

"That was just a really s--tty situation that sucked," she told the mag. "That was by far the worst moment of my career."

However, as strange as it may sound, those photos may have helped the actress leave her squeaky-clean image behind, and help her achieve the edgier roles she'd wanted.

"It's always been hard for actors to cross that bridge but honestly, you have to hold out and do what you think is right for yourself," Hudgens said, and shared admiration for her Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine for giving her a shot.

"But I also think it is about finding someone who truly believes in you. Harmony took a really big jump in hiring me and [costars] Selena [Gomez] and Ashley [Benson]."

And Spring Breakers was a perfect way to transition from good girl gone bad with her character taking bong rips, sniffing cocaine and even participating in a three-way.

"You sit there. You're smoking your fake blunts. You just do it," Hudgens mentioned about a particular scene with costar James Franco, and shared that the cast would snort crushed up Vitamin B during cocaine scenes, but would still get a similar effect. 

"We would run around set like mad men, and people would wonder, 'Did you switch that out with anything?'''

Hudgens' next role continues on her risqué path. The actress will portray a drug addict and prostitute in the thriller Frozen Ground

"Ever since I was young, I wanted to play really heavy and intense roles and really push myself in a dramatic direction. So I was like, 'A prostitute! I can play a prostitute! This is going to be exciting.'"