Victoria Justice is opening up about her complex relationship with Dan Schneider.
While appearing on the cover of Marie Claire‘s first music issue out on Wednesday, the actress shared her thoughts on the Quiet on Set documentary, which dove into the alleged problematic behavior of the children’s show creator at Nickelodeon. Of course, he was behind her shows Zoey 101 and Victorious. Victoria shared:
“Something that was very evident in the documentary is that Dan had a very large ego, and sometimes that ego clouded his better judgment and affected the way he treated people, and there were times I felt like I was being treated unfairly.”
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After landing a role on Zoey 101 at the age of 12, the child star moved on to headline Victorious from 2010 to 2013. Looking back at her time, she thinks she’s absolutely one of the people Dan has some apologizing to do! She noted:
“I would say I’m definitely one of the people on that list.”
While nothing sexual occurred between them, the Make It Shine singer revealed that some moments she shared with Dan “were in poor taste.” That’s unfortunately not surprising considering the doc really took aim at Victorious for being one of the screenwriter’s most inappropriate shows because it was full of sexual jokes. If they were doing that on camera, just imagine what was going on behind it!
But because the TV producer was the one who gave Victoria her first “big break,” the 31-year-old acknowledged that her feelings are super complicated, adding:
“I’m not condoning any of his behavior. At the end of the day, my relationship with Dan is a very complex one: I met him when I was 12 years old, and he’s the person that gave me this big break. He completely changed my life. Most likely I wouldn’t be here where I am today if it weren’t for him, and for him seeing something in me. For that I will always be grateful.”
We’re sure she’s not the only one who feels this way, especially since she doesn’t have personal experiences of alleged sexual misconduct. But some s**t clearly went down if she believes she deserves an apology!
As Perezcious readers know, after the docuseries premiered, the Drake & Josh creator released a YouTube video hitting back at the allegations, in which he did kinda admit to wrongdoing, saying:
“Watching over the past two nights was very difficult, me facing my past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret, and I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology.”
But, uhhh, he’s obviously not too serious about those apologies if he hasn’t reached out to Victoria! And yet she really thinks he’s changed. Seriously. After watching the apology video, the musician thought “he recognizes that he did a lot of things wrong,” and believes that if Dan “could step back into a time machine, he would do a lot of things differently.” Whoa. That’s a far more generous take than some other Nick stars had after viewing that!
FWIW, since the docuseries aired, Dan has gone on to sue the creators of the documentary for defamation — but the allegations just keep coming! The latest to speak out was All That‘s Lori Beth Denberg, who told Business Insider she had a “weird, abusive friendship” with Dan that became sexual when she was 19. Dan denied her “wildly exaggerated and, in most cases, false” claims. Doesn’t look good for him that so many past employees are still coming forward, tho!
We hope Victoria gets a genuine apology… someday! That’s the least he could do! Reactions? Let us know (below).
[Image via DanWarp/Nickelodeon UK/YouTube & MEGA/WENN]
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