Madison Beer is turning a new leaf in the next chapter of her life. The singer-songwriter sat down for a revealing Cosmopolitan cover story, where she got candid about everything from the early days of her music career to her current connection with Justin and Hailey Bieber. She also opened up about an incident where nude photos and videos of her leaked during her initial rise to fame as a teenager.
Let me catch you up to speed: Madison sent disappearing Snapchats to a boy she was dating when she was 15. The intimate pics and videos were eventually leaked, making their rounds on Twitter and Tumblr. At the time, the Grammy nominee was faced with cyberbullying and slut-shaming from strangers online, which she told Cosmo sent her into “a depression spiral.”
“Out of everything I went through as a result of my sudden rise to fame, having my private nude photos leaked at 15 was one of the most traumatizing,” Madison wrote in her memoir, The Half of It, per an excerpt published by Rolling Stone. “It still haunts me almost a decade later. Every time I think I’m fully healed, another side effect rears its ugly head, like peeling back the layers of an onion, and I realize just how much the trauma has leaked into every aspect of my life.”
Since then, Madison revealed that the guy who shared the NSFW content has apologized to her.
“The boy who the whole nude situation happened with, he reached out to me and was like, ‘I had no idea that I hurt you like this. I’m so sorry,’” the “Spinnin’” singer told Cosmo. She also empathized with the person who leaked the photos, adding, “I don’t know how it feels to be a 14-year-old boy receiving photos of a girl. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I don’t think he was being malicious showing them to his friends. He was a kid.”
The 26-year-old also shared her experience with keeping—and losing—certain connections throughout the journey of her music career.
“I’ve had to sit people down and be like, ‘Hey, you owe me an apology for what you did to me when I was a kid,’” she shared. “And a lot of the other people from that time in my life—I just have completely severed my relationships with. I don’t care to make up with you or be cool with you.”
Read Madison Beer’s full Cosmopolitan cover story here:
If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual violence, consider reaching out to the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or using the online chat feature at Hotline.RAINN.org. In a crisis, you can call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 to speak to a trained counselor. We’ve rounded up more mental health resources here.
