(showbizspy.com) - High School Musical actress Vanessa Hudgens has revealed she didn't want to be famous.
Hudgens, 18, told Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I became an actress and started singing and dancing because I truly loved it.
"I did not want to be a celebrity. ... I think fame is just something that comes along when you are in something that is such a success."
Hudgens, who suffered public embarrassment in September this year - when a fully nude photo of her surfaced on the internet, says a major downside of becoming famous is the lack of privacy.
"Everyone is trying to get into your business," she says. "I don't like people staring at me all the time, and I don't want people following me around."
Hudgens, who's currently dating her HSM co-star Zac Efron, added: "People become jaded and infatuated with Hollywood," she says. "I think it happens to a lot of celebrities, and it messes with their head."
Hudgens, however, insisted that she knows it's the price she has to pay as a performer, and revealed that if High School Musical never came along - she would have tried out for American Idol.
"I was 15 at the time ... and you had to be 16 to audition," she says. "So I thought, 'One more year.' Then, when I turned 16, High School Musical came along and I got to do it. So I thought I'd skip on American Idol."