Skai Jackson's Disney Channel Days: Her Most Candid Quotes

She’s telling it like it is. Jessie alum Skai Jackson is known for her work on the Disney Channel — and she’s finally opening up about her experience working with the juggernaut brand. She shared her candid experiences in a YouTube Q&A video in September 2021.

The New York City native rose to fame at just 9 years old when she portrayed the spunky Zuri Ross on the hit series Jessie from 2011 to 2015. She went on to reprise her role as Zuri on Bunk’d from 2015 to 2018. The character was so beloved that she also appeared on crossover episodes of Good Luck Charlie, K.C. Undercover, Austin & Ally and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Before her Jessie breakout, Skai worked on several other children’s TV shows outside of the Disney brand, including Sesame Street, Team Umizoomi and Bubble Guppies. In 2018, she took on the role of Glory Grant in the short film Marvel Rising: Initiation, which spawned several sequel shorts, including Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts, Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands and Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri.

The performer has also made her mark in reality TV. In 2020, Skai joined the cast of Dancing With the Stars season 29 and was paired up with beloved pro Alan Bersten. She was eliminated in the tenth week, putting her in fifth place. Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe went on to win the season — but Skai’s skills didn’t go unnoticed.

She has been in the game for a while — and she has been open about how social media has affected her while in the industry. “I joined Twitter when I was 10 and I got my Instagram when I was 11,” Skai told Entertainment Tonight in October 2019. “When I joined Instagram, I did notice a lot of hate comments or people would just, like, nitpick at my appearance, just to be funny … For me, being a young age, I didn’t understand why these people were saying these things. I would get really, really sad.”

However, she has a good philosophy she puts into action before clapping back at trolls. “Take ten deep breaths. Never tweet while you’re angry; you’ll probably regret it later,” Skai previously tweeted about responding to hate. “Get sassy. Never use curse words, foul language, or racial slurs, or say anything about a person’s appearance. Just work with being smart-mouthed.”

Scroll through the gallery below to see all of Skai’s most candid quotes about being on the Disney Channel!

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On Creepy Fans

When a fan asked if she ever had experiences with inappropriate adult fans, she revealed, “You know, I did have a couple of experiences. I was doing a lot of meet and greets at that time, while I was filming Jessie, and I would go to different states, and, of course, people want to meet Zuri from Jessie. And it was super fun getting to meet all of the younger fans and even some of the adults … because they were fans as well. But I have had a couple of experiences where I was pretty uncomfortable. It could’ve been older men. I think one time at a meet and greet, someone grabbed me. Not in an inappropriate place or anything, but they grabbed me and they shouldn’t have grabbed me. … Some people just do weird things and I kind of have to deal with it.”

“Is Being a Disney Star All It’s Hyped Up to Be?”

“No,” Skai revealed. “Because people think when you’re a Disney star, you get all of these things. Honestly, the only free thing we got while working on the Disney channel was free Disneyworld and Disneyland tickets. And I don’t want to say it was once a year but they gave us a certain amount of tickets. I’ve never been on a Disney cruise, nothing like that. And when we’d end the season, they would give us a wrap gift. But that’s it.”

On Quitting ‘Bunk’d’

Skai revealed she left the Disney series to expand her horizons in the business. “You guys have to understand that when you’re on a show like that, they have first rights to you,” she said. “Which is understandable and normal, but there were certain opportunities that I did miss and I just thought that because I was going into my adulthood years that it would be nice to transition from Disney and do other stuff.”

On Working With Disney Again

When asked if she would work with the brand again in the future, Skai said, “When it comes to shows and movies, I don’t think so. I would definitely do Disney+ because that’s a streaming service. It’s different from the Disney channel itself. I graduated out of that at this point. I’m 19, I’ll be 20 next year. I don’t think that’s something in my [future goals]. I always say, if I do something, I want to do something different. That’s always my goal, to keep progressing.”

‘Jessie’ BTS Secrets

On May 23, 2022, Skai uploaded a YouTube video called “The Truth About Disney Channel,” where she discussed behind-the-scenes secrets about Jessie. The young actress revealed that the show was not filmed in New York much to fans’ dismay and that almost all of the show’s sets were shot indoors. “It was fake, guys!” she told the camera.

Speaking TruthsSkai Jackson’s Most Candid Quotes About Her Disney Channel Days Are Seriously Enlightening

On Creepy Fans

“Is Being a Disney Star All It’s Hyped Up to Be?”

On Quitting ‘Bunk’d’

On Working With Disney Again

‘Jessie’ BTS Secrets

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