Former Disney star Alexa Nikolas claims Jamie Lynn Spears bullied her while on the set of Zoey 101.
Nikolas, who gained wider recognition earlier this month when she came forward with allegations against actor Jonah Hill, got candid on Thursday’s episode of the “H3 Podcast” about why she left the popular show after only two seasons.
She told the hosts that she “just wanted to be friends with everybody,” but hit a “wall” when she would try to talk to Spears.
“I got put through the wringer on that show, it was a pretty bad three years,” Nikolas, who played Nicole Barstow on the show, said on the podcast. “Jamie Lynn Spears just created a very toxic, unhealthy work environment.”
Spears, who played the titular star of the beloved kid’s show that had a four-season run from 2005 to 2008, would often give Nikolas the “cold shoulder” while the two were on set, Nikolas explained.
She told the podcast host that the tension between the two child stars “slowly escalated” over time and the now 32-year-old Spears would leave her out when she would invite the cast to have lunch with her in her trailer.
“It just started to snowball, basically, and then it became bullying where she would just say harsh things to me like, ‘Why do you smile so much?’ You know, like, this kid bullying sh*t basically. But you know, at that time it hurt. When I was a kid.”
She also accused Spears of making “everyone else feel like they had to also engage in that type of … mean girl situation.”
But Spears isn’t the only cast member Nikolas got candid about. She also called out co-star Victoria Justice, who played Lola Martinez, for “bullying” her and said that Kristen Herrera, who was only on the show for a single season, was “let go” once the alleged abuse became “really bad.” Nikolas even claimed that Herrera pushed her “into a rock at one point.”
Nikolas is not part of the cast of the Zoey 102 movie, which premiered Thursday on Paramount+.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
