Meaghan Martin Talks Continued Backlash Over Tess Tyler Role In “Camp Rock”
Sixteen years after the premiere of the hit Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, actress Meaghan Martin, now 32, still receives backlash from fans. Martin, who played the mean girl Tess Tyler, joined fellow Disney alumni Sabrina Bryan and Will Friedle on their podcast Magical Rewind to reminisce about the film and its impact.
“I got a message the other day that was, like, pretty cruel in my Instagram DMs that was like, ‘You lied to Demi and you deserve to die.’ And I was like, ‘Wow. We can move on,’” Meaghan shared.
Interestingly, Meaghan initially auditioned for Demi Lovato’s role but felt more connected to Tess. “I knew that I was Tess. Like, I felt it in my bones. I was like, ‘Look, we’ve all read the script. Like, the blonde girl is gonna be Tess.'”
Camp Rock also featured the Jonas Brothers, who were on the cusp of mega-fame at the time. Meaghan recalled her initial reaction to their involvement. “I remember being really nonplussed by it. I was like, ‘Who, the Baby Bottle Pop guys?’” she said.
Reflecting on the Disney Channel’s attempt to replicate the success of High School Musical, Meaghan admitted she was initially skeptical. “I was a big musical theater nerd, and I was like, ‘Ugh, what is this? Disney Channel thinks they can do musicals?’”
She, however, admitted that she was “eating my words soon after that.”
Working on Camp Rock felt like attending “Disney Channel high school,” Meaghan explained. “Working as teens, that becomes your peer group. It becomes like, that is your high school classmates, and we all went to summer camp together,” she stated.
Sabrina and Meaghan also reminisced about the on-set romances and shenanigans. “There was a lot. It’s the high school thing, like you’re gonna date the people you go to high school with, right?” she stated.
Although Demi and Joe Jonas later dated, Meaghan clarified that it happened right before they started Camp Rock 2.
She stated, “I don’t think Demi and Joe were together then. I think they got together later than that, because it was right before we started Camp Rock 2 that they got together and then broke up.”
Sabrina and Meaghan fondly remembered their time at the 2008 Disney Channel Games, a reality competition series where Disney stars competed for charity. They recalled watching romances bloom among the younger actors at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.
“We were older, so we were, obviously not going to be taking part in anything. But it was like watching younger kids and you’re just going, ‘Oh wow, look at that dynamic across the pool …,’” Sabrina said.
For Meaghan, though, she avoided dating fellow Disney stars. She “had an aggressive rule as a teenager that I would not date other actors,” said the actress, who has been married to British actor Oli Higginson since 2016.
