Christina Ricci recently recounted a troubling incident from her childhood during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Earlier this week, she shared that when she was just 11 years old, she received an unsolicited photo of a man’s genitalia.
During the conversation with Jimmy Kimmel, Ricci discussed how she and her friends were prank-calling a store in the early nineties, which led to the disturbing encounter.
Ricci explained, “When I was 11, I had a group of girlfriends, and we would all call 1-800-Mattress. We prank-called them so much that we ended up having a regular guy that we would talk to named Jared.”
The prank calls took a dark turn after Ricci’s friend provided the man with her address, resulting in an unexpected delivery.
Ricci recalled, “One of these idiot girls gave Jared her address, and he sent a picture of his penis in the mail,” describing it as a photo developed at a CVS Photoshop.
While she and Kimmel joked about the absurdity of sending such a photo to the drugstore, Ricci pointed out that none of the girls reported the incident to anyone. “No one told anyone. We just stopped calling. It certainly was the first d**k pic I saw,” she noted.
Shortly after this unsettling event, Ricci landed her breakthrough role as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family.
Reflecting on her journey in the entertainment industry, Ricci once shared with PEOPLE her fondness for working as a child. “I’ve had some incredible experiences and loved working as a child,” she said.
“I loved working. I loved being a kid who had a talent. I loved being good at something. I loved all that positive reinforcement I got every day. I loved getting to use my imagination in a way that really created things. It was incredible to be able to do that so young.”
Despite concerns about the effects of stardom on her youth, Ricci embraced her career as a form of escape, even suggesting that ‘real life’ was more challenging than fame.
Ricci discussed her tough upbringing with Entertainment Tonight, saying, “When I first started, and still as an adult, this career has always been an escape for me.”
The Yellowjackets star elaborated, “All the little things that sort of are negative about the industry and the career, they’ve always been things that I’ve just been like, ‘Well, real life is worse.'”
For Ricci, acting provided a refuge, and she often found film sets to be the safest environments during her childhood. She explained, “As a kid, it was an escape from, like, a horrendous childhood and just getting to go away – be in hotels and be on set and be with other adults and be valued.”