During a conversation on the podcast ‘The Squeeze,’ Xochitl Gomez opened up about the darker side of fame. Gomez, who played America Chavez in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,’ shared her experiences of online harassment and death threats.
The 17-year-old actress detailed the scrutiny she faced following her casting announcement. Gomez, who was in England during the pandemic, recalled her shock at the immediate backlash, saying:
“With ‘Doctor Strange,’ I was in the middle of the pandemic, sitting in my room in England, and the news broke out that I was cast. That was something that I was not prepared for. I was just like, ‘Oh, it’s happening today! Great, here it is,’ and that was hard, too. … Once the movie came out, that was another wave, and it got to the point where I was literally getting death threats. I was getting videos of me green-screened where they’re throwing stuff at my face. I was like, ‘What is going on?'”
According to Gomez, they were criticizing specific things — her not being considered ‘Latina enough’ for the role and the backlash due to her character’s family dynamics, featuring two mothers:
“They were mad about the fact that because I was playing America, they didn’t think I was Latina enough or that my hair wasn’t curly. I’m like, ‘Okay, I can curl it, guys!’ Then, there’s also the fact that I was playing a girl who is into girls, and her mom has a wife.”
Gomez also talked about the ban of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ in several countries over its LGBTQ representation, revealing she was blamed for that as well:
“The two moms had a scene where I think she kissed her on the cheek, and so it got banned in a few places. Those people got so mad at me for the fact that the movie wouldn’t be able to come out where they lived, and they got so mad they were sending me death threats and evil messages. It got so scary for me because I was like, ‘What? I didn’t do anything!’ … But now that I’ve experienced all that, to me, anything else is like, ‘Okay, what are you going to do? What else have you got? Bring it on!”
Watch the full interview below.
Gomez Opened Up About Her Sexually Explicit Deepfakes
Adding to the issues, Gomez said she recently came across AI-generated fake pornographic videos of herself. The distress caused by these videos extended to her family, affecting her mother. Despite efforts to remove these videos, some remained online, with Gomez questioning, ‘Why is this allowed?’
Despite these, Gomez said that her focus has been on the positives of her career. She spoke about relying on her friends and setting personal boundaries to deal with bullying. Back when these issues were first resurfaced, she also received backing from the Marvel fan base, who stood against the hate directed towards her.
Looking forward, Gomez is set to continue her role as America Chavez in the upcoming ‘Avengers: Secret Wars‘ and will appear in ‘Ursa Major‘ as Natalie.
