14 DAY TRIAL // Joe Jonas, of the now-defunct Jonas Brothers band, is speaking to Vulture about his Disney past, the immense pressure that came with being a Disney star, the first signs of rebellion and, of course, his plans for the future as far as a career in music is concerned.
The Jonas Brothers, like all Disney stars, had a squeaky clean reputation. They even wore purity rings and had vouched in public to save themselves for marriage but, Joe says, it was all part of their intense media training.
They’d been taught what to say, who to say it to and when and, most importantly, how to avoid questions that could potentially damage their “brand” by soiling the reputation Disney had worked so hard to build for them.
Behind closed doors, as he grew up into a teen, there was some rebellion, Joe says. There was also a lot of peer pressure, like it happens with other boys and girls his age, he continues, blaming Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato, fellow Disney stars, for pressuring him into trying drugs for the first time.
“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,” Joe says.
“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,” the singer continues.
Joe is 24 today and, he boasts, he’s finally “in control” of his own life and career. He’s grateful Disney happened to the three of them when it did because it made them stars but, at the same time, he’s happy network bosses aren’t pulling the strings anymore.
He says he’s looking forward to going back in the studio and making the kind of music he likes and then selling it as he sees fit. As for why he threw Demi and Miley under the bus after such a long time, that’s still a mystery.