Here’s a photo of Joe Jonas out in Hollywood yesterday with his girlfriend, Blanda Eggenschwiler. You can’t really see her in this picture, but even if she was visible, it wouldn’t matter. That 1970s cop moustache is all that anyone could ever possibly care about in this frame, and it is absolutely killing me. I’m getting flashbacks of the Jonas Brothers’ 3-D concert movie because Joe dressed up as a nightstick-waving cop with that very moustache. Does he remember? Is this a joke on all of us? Who knows.
For reasons that don’t entirely make sense to me, New York Magazine has published an enormous essay from Joe in its Dec. 9 issue. It’s a very long piece, and there’s a lot of stuff — mostly about the rise of the Jonas Brothers and the inevitable bust-up — that I’m cutting out. Joe claims that the bros broke up because they weren’t “jelling” for a long time, and a huge screaming match brought things to a head. He also throws a bit of shade at Kevin’s marriage, but none of that is too interesting, so you can read the full piece if you so desire.
One theory that’s been floated to explain the JoBros breakup is that Joe may have a drug problem. Joe denies being an addict or doing any hard drugs, but he does say that when he first smoked pot, it was Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato shoving the joint into his hand. Oh nooooo:
On the Disney channel: “Disney is great at creating fame. They’ve done it with so many pop stars and young actors, from Hilary Duff to the High School Musical crew. Miley Cyrus played an already-famous pop star on a Disney show, Hannah Montana, and as we were starting to blow up, we got a boost by playing ourselves, as her favorite band on her own show. We got a sitcom called Jonas in which we played characters named Kevin, Joe, and Nick Lucas, members of an already-famous band. But the thing about the show was that some of the writing on it was terrible. It just ended up being some weird slapstick humor that only a 10-year-old would laugh at. They took out the kissing scene that Nick had. I had to shave every day because they wanted me to pretend like I was 16 when I was 20 (when the show was done, I cut my hair off and grew as much of a beard as I could). We went along with it at the time, because we thought Disney was our only real shot, and we were terrified that it could all be taken away from us at any moment.”
The Disney shackles: “Disney made us more famous than we ever knew we could be, [but] being a part of a company like that comes with certain expectations. Not overtly, but there was a subtle vibe. We were working with Disney in 2007 when the Vanessa Hudgens nude-photo scandal happened. We heard that she had to be in the Disney offices for a whole day because they were trying to figure out how to keep her on lockdown. We’d hear execs talking about it, and they would tell us that they were so proud of us for not making the same mistakes, which made us feel like we couldn’t ever mess up. We didn’t want to disappoint anyone—our parents, our fans, our employers–so we put incredible pressure on ourselves, the kind of pressure that no teenager should be under.”
Media training: “We were just kids. That’s the reality. We were frightened little kids. So you got all this responsibility that’s foisted upon you and you’re expected to be perfect. I went through media training, and I hated it. They’d teach you how to change the subject, whenever you were asked an uncomfortable question, by saying something like, ‘Oh, that reminds me of my dog! I have a great story about my dog!’ Playing dumb is the best way of getting out of anything. We also had a strategy for who would take which kinds of questions. If it was a serious question, Nick would answer it. If it was lighthearted, Kevin would. Nick and I took questions related to our music and explaining what certain songs meant. We even did a Good Housekeeping story with our mom where we were wearing these horrible pastels. It makes me cringe just to think about it.”
About those purity rings: “The topic that dominated news coverage of us for a long time was the whole promise-ring thing. We couldn’t escape it. It started when I was really young–I must have been 10 or 11. There’s a program people do in some churches called True Love Waits, where you wait for marriage to have sex. Kevin and I decided to join–Nick tried it later. Fast-forward a few years, we’ve started playing music and we-re working with Disney and we have these rings. I remember this interview with this guy whose entire agenda was to focus on the rings. Now I know that I don’t have to answer any questions I don’t want to. Like, why do you even care about my 15-year-old brother’s sex life? We decided to take the rings off a few years ago. I lost my virginity when I was 20. I did other stuff before then, but I was sexually active at 20. I’m glad I waited for the right person, because you look back and you go, ‘That girl was batsh-t crazy. I’m glad I didn’t go there.'”
Disney rebellions happen for a reason: “Being a part of the Disney thing for so long will make you not want to be this perfect little puppet forever. Eventually, I hit a limit and thought, Screw all this, I’m just going to show people who I am. I think that happened to a lot of us. Disney kids are spunky in some way, and I think that’s why Disney hires them. ‘Look, he jumped up on the table!’ Five, six, ten years later, they’re like, ‘Oh! What do we do?’ Come on, guys. You did this to yourselves.”
On drugs & alcohol: “The first time I smoked weed was with Demi and Miley. I must have been 17 or 18. They kept saying, ‘Try it! Try it!’ so I gave it a shot, and it was all right. I don’t even smoke weed that often anymore. I was caught drinking when I was 16 or 17, and I thought the world was going to collapse. But I was in another country, and it was legal there. My 21st birthday, I fell down a flight of stairs. I was unconscious that time, and my whole team was scared to death that somebody was going to get a picture. Now I appreciate wine or a vodka-soda at the end of the day every once in a while.”
On the future: “Now that I’m 24 and have control of my life, I’m going back to the drawing board. I’ve been through a sh-t-ton of stuff, but I’m genuinely excited because now I can go back to the studio with those people who I used to work with. I don’t have to rely on anyone else’s opinion, whether good or bad, and hear them say, ‘No, no, you can’t go write with them. That’s too weird for us.’ Because weird works. Look at Lorde.”
[From Vulture]
I have no earthly idea where Joe Jonas plans to go with his career from here. He claims to have recorded an initial solo album that never saw the light of day. Then he recorded another, Fastlife, that was actually released by Hollywood Records in an effort to make him “the new Justin Timberlake.” Dude, not even JT is Justin Timberlake anymore.
One positive thing I will say about Joe — he does acknowledge in this interview that Disney “made” him and his brothers. Disney itself has claimed no responsibility for raising children, but it can’t deny the effect it has on many of its stars. Joe seems more humble than many former Disney kids, and he fully believes that he would have never become famous without the machine. You can see him raging against the machine a bit in this interview, but he still gets it. To me, that kind of sentience is refreshing compared to Miley Cyrus claiming to have built an entire empire for herself at age 11. I’m not surprised at all that Miley and Demi were the ones to pressure Joe into trying drugs, but he’s the one who smoked that joint.
Photos courtesy of WENN
I’m assuming they put a gun to his head?
See, the headline says they made him try it but I don’t feel like he is saying they forced him to. More like strongly encouraged and so he did and even liked it. I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem like he’s pointing a mean finger at them, just saying they were there.
A lot of CB readers still haven’t caught on yet to the fact that many of the titles are written in pure snark. They still don’t seem to fully understand the sardonic nature of this site, which is sad because for those who do get it, it’s Shrieking Hilarious! Especially when readers nitpick every aspect of the post, i.e. its title.
@IrishSerra, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. I get it and don’t mind it at all. But then when a lot of commenters take the title at face value, it gets annoying.
@irishserra – I’m pretty sure my comment discussing thr exact opposite was deleted by the moderator, which excellently illustrates how not deadpan the writing is.
agreed because that’s the only way 14yr olds would force an 18yr old me to take a drug I didn’t want to try
Have yall never heard of peer pressure? Jeez.
The age difference sort of negates the idea of peer pressure. I wouldn’t call them peers in the traditional sense. Besides, my point is that I don’t think he has hard feelings about it. I don’t think he’s portraying it as that they made him.
Age is meaningless in terms of peer pressure and he definitely experienced it. Look at it this way if they has not been there pressing him to try it would he have tried it? It’s a clear case of peer pressure and I think most of us experienced it as teens. I definitely drank before I turned 21 because “everyone was doing it.” I’m not saying it’s smart or right but I think it’s better to be clear-sighted about people and how they behave.
They made him taste wine, too.
I’m guessing he’s trying to be more edgy so his solo career will go well. He knows how the business works…just hope he doesn’t sell out his brothers in the process.
When no one pays attention to you anymore it’s time to play the drugs card. and if you use Miley’s name is even better. He is such a rebel for smoking a joint! While i think Miley is a trainwreck i think Demi is very aware and takes responsabilities for hwat she has done trying to be a good example for her fans. it is not nice to drop names, ever.
This is totally true. A perfect of example of the worst kind of name-dropping. I know nothing about any Jonas, but this one seems like a douche.
On the flip side, to defend the creepy mustache, it’s Movember.
Yes, they both forced him to inhale.. Shut up
“Weird works. Look at Lorde” – the shadiness of that statement and lol at him thinking being weird is some kind of key to success, there are people of weird indie artists that are broke as hell. By himself, he just doesn’t have that star quality so I still see him flopping in the future. But I think that it’s cute that he’s willing to give the solo thing a try.
Weird does work but who can predict what weird will catch on? Who saw SpongeBob coming?
Whatever to all the girl talk. What I found a lot more interesting was all the shade towards Nick. I got a bit of an eyeroll feeling from him when he talked about Kevin but there were some harsh undertones in his comments about Nick. From this and other things I’ve read, it sounds like Nick got the band their break, Nick led the band, and Nick broke up the band. And now Joe is trying to go out on his own like he was really just being held back all along. Good luck with that dude.
The comments about Demi were uncalled for though as was the shade he threw at Taylor Swift. Keep your mouth shut or don’t, but don’t pull that shit. I hate that- ‘I have no bad feelings except for all these bad feelings but hey, I’m not blaming them for all the awful stuff they did to me for no reason.’ F that.
I liked the comments about Disney too. They mesh with a lot of other comments I’ve heard about child stars. Basically they are managed so tightly that they can’t move and are scared to try. Then when they do, it’s in no way proportional to anything normal because everything is so skewed. They stunt their growth while expecting them to be adults all at the same time. Every little detail of their life is managed for them except for these massive decisions they are expected to make for themselves and their entire teams. As little use as I have for certain former child stars, they all get a little piece of sympathy from me simply for being former child stars.
I agree that child stars are under enormous pressure. That doesn’t excuse everything they do later, but it does help explain why many of them have such a struggle in their early 20s *cough* Miley…at some point, you have to take responsibility for your actions. I remember feeling a great deal of pressure not to disappoint my parents. I imagine it’s pretty rough when you add your fans, Disney, your manager and everyone else to the list.
It’s on their parents, not Disney, to protect them and prepare them. It’s easy to blame the suits but the responsibility belongs with the family. I have no patience for these types of complaints, if they don’t want the pressure of a career at a young age don’t pursue one. The problem for most of the troubled ones is not Disney but their family situations.
Regardless of my reservations about the Jonas Brothers, I found this interview to be quite sincere and a very interesting read. Maybe not the most comfortable interview, but it feels genuine.
Children get thrown into the spotlight and paid six-figure paychecks along with all the expectations that come with it can be hard. Children working at a young age and becoming bread winners is very dangerous and can generate terrible consequences if the child doesn’t have strong and sincere support system.
Joe Jonas is not bad looking, but I don’t see a career as a singer. Maybe he can talk to whoever has managed Zach Efron and have a film career that resembles his. I do want him to success and get help if he has a drug problem. I wish him the very best.
But- embarrassed to say this- Efron is attractive. I mean, he’s really pretty! This Jonas boy doesn’t have looks going for him.
Well said Melissa!
I totally agree Melissa. I’ve never paid any kind of attention to the Jonas brothers and this interview, well it didn’t make me interested per se, but it gave me some insight. I found it very sincere.
So if he was 17 or 18 when he first smoked pot with Miley and Demi that would have made them around 15 or 16 or possibly younger? It sounds like no one was bothered to control any of them. Not Disney and definitely not their parents!
He actually comes across far better than I could ever have expected.
But I have to side eye him for trying to blame Demi and Miley for his drug taking. Dude, they were 14 year old girls and they pressured you into smoking weed? Please.
The parts that I actually found the most interesting were about how it was initially just Nick’s record deal. Its an interesting dynamic, and explains a lot.
Those Disney kids sound like spoiled, over indulged brats. Oh for shame, you couldn’t drink, smoke weed, hang out with friends or take naked pictures of yourself. As far as I know, the rest of us were shamed for attempting the same thing at that age.
I felt sorry for Vanessa when she was being slut-shamed for taking naked photos of HER OWN body. I felt sorry for all of those who were pressured to act all asexual and virginal. I’ll say about this what I said on the post about Evan Rachel Wood and the whole MPAA debacle: Society really needs to overcome it’s hang-ups about nudity and sexuality.
Also, I am kind of amazed at the posters on Vulture who are saying stuff like ”I can’t believe they were lying to us the whole time”. Child stardom is a meat grinder. What on earth do you think happens?
All this reminds me of that South Park episode in which Mickey Mouse beats the crap out of him while Kevin and Nick are standing there, looking horrified. Guess it was based on reality…
Oh, yes. They MADE you. At nipple point, or what?
If you actually read the article you’ll see that the only one saying that they ‘made him’ is Bedhead. He says they told him “try it try it!” so he did and he liked it. I’m no follower of the Jonii, but I read the article out of interest regarding the Disney Machine, and there are omissions in the interview excerpts that change the tone of what he was saying, and no indication that it’s been clipped.
Interesting. It is true that most Disney child stars have such huge problems when they become adults, especially those that want to stay in the industry (best example is Miley of course).
I find his observations about the Disney system and child stardom to be interesting, but I think it’s a little tasteless to mention his (presumably former) friends by name in the stories and attribute his drug use to peer pressure. It sounds like he still smokes occasionally (“I don’t even smoke weed that often anymore”), and no one’s pressuring him these days.
I’m pretty sure he has the moustache for Movember(that’s what I’m hoping for at least).
And we all knew that when they were preaching about being this “stay-at-home virgins who never go who don’t drink” was all a lie so this isn’t surprising at all.
I’m kind of amused and surprised by the fact that a 18-year-old Joe Jonas was pressured by 15 or 16-year-old Demi and Miley into smoking weed.
But yeah, nothing he says about Disney is surprising to me. I knew that Disney teens were pressured by adults (as well as our aggressive slut-shaming culture) to remain ‘sexually pure’ in more ways than one. Some of the Disney stars were more pressured than others. It’s no surprise that they rebel against the purity/modesty stuff as adults, and really, they have nothing to apologize for, as their bodies belong to them.
Wow, I hate his hair all buzzed off Grecian style. It even looks horrible on George Michael.
Relevance attempt.
The “batshit crazy” comment was totally aimed at Taylor. And he was right!
She’s not my favorite, either, but I cringe a bit when people describe their exes that way, at least in cases where no one has done anything criminal or abusive. She might be batshit crazy, but he did choose to date her.
It’s also worth noting that this was a 3 month relationship that ended 5 years ago. Taylor looks bad for continuing to talk about it, and Joe’s bringing it up now doesn’t look much more mature.
He comes off like a spoiled, overgrown teenage girl. He so obviously resents his brothers and the fact that his career didn’t go the way he thought it should. And seriously, ‘try it try it’ doesn’t mean you have to. He was a 17 year old boy taking orders from 14 year old girls. And the shade at Swift? She might be a nutjob but she’s classy when it comes to interviews. He needs a big old cup of get the f over it.