Billie Piper thinks social media is "terrifying".
The 37-year-old singer and actress started her career as a teenager when she released her debut single, ‘Because We Want To’, at the age of 15, and has now said she would hate to be "a famous pop star" now, because social media has amplified the "horrible" elements of fame.
She said: "Let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t have wanted to be a famous pop star now. The social media element of it all is terrifying because it’s continuous, it’s in your bed, next to your bedside table every night.
"In my pop career there were moments that were horrible to experience as a teenager, but they came and went. But the thought of having that constantly on your person – I wear my phone round my neck like some weird slave – and with one simple click you’re able to see what millions of people think about you or other people, or just about anything … I would argue that it’s got worse."
Billie also spoke about the 2014 iCloud hack which saw several celebrities’ private pictures surface online, and said that whilst she wasn’t impacted by the leak, she could relate to the situation.
The ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’ star believes it’s "slightly depressing" to witness people living their lives so "publicly", because she knows how things can be "incriminating" even when they seem "quite innocent".
Speaking to The Sunday Times’ Culture magazine, she added: "I don’t know what that’s like [having pictures stolen], but I certainly know what it means to live your life publicly. I’ve done that since I was 14. What’s really interesting and slightly depressing is on some level we all do that now – everybody has an online profile and everything you do on some level could be seen to be incriminating, even if it’s actually quite innocent."