Debbie Gibson Speaks Out About Pedophiles

Debbie Gibson was the ultimate teen pop princess of the 1980’s — pretty, pure and preppy. But at just 16 the “Foolish Beat” singer was exposed to the very sinister side of showbiz. “It is very disheartening that there are so many older men that prey on young performers,” Gibson told Tarts in an exclusive interview. “The younger you are, the more innocent you are, the more wholesome your image is, the weirder the fans become in terms of older men wanting to corrupt little girls. Even the way the paparazzi stalk the younger artists is very different from following around adults – I find that very disturbing.” But what is even more disturbing than dirty male “fans” was the fact that Gibson’s own peeps were often the ones on the prey. “There would be older male record executives trying to take me to parties by myself but my mom always be like ‘she’s a sixteen year old girl, she’s not going into an atmosphere with over 21-year-olds and alcohol!’ I hadn’t had enough life experience for those situations,” Gibson admitted. “You grow up thinking ‘everyone loves me’, but everyone who you are paying loves you. They are going to love you this year, but they are going to love the next person who makes them millions the next year. I was protected enough so that my childhood could be preserved as much as it could be in the circumstance.” But dealing with creepy old men wasn’t the only of Gibson’s worries – her young age also made her a target of being misconceived as well, stupid. “My songs were very upbeat and I dressed kinda cutesy and people confused that with me not having a backbone or not being very smart or very strong. I was labeled and pigeonholed as a cheerleader, when infact emotionally I had a lot more depth than that,” she explained. “That always frustrated me and even at a young age I learned to psycho-analyze the public.” But unlike the majority of young stars today who prance and perform in nothing less than top-notch designer brands, Gibson believes that part of her public appeal was truly being just your average American teen. “That really was me – I remember I co-hosted the American music awards and I bought my dress at a local boutique in long island because I wanted to look like me. I didn’t want to look like a girl who made a ton of money and had access to all these designers. These days I see stars younger than 18 in Dolce and Gabbana – I didn’t even know what dolce and Gabbana was!” she exclaimed. But that little girl is all grown-up now and after almost a decade away from the recording studio she is almost ready to release an album this time “as a woman’ and has faith that she has finally come up with THE song to put her back on the map. And we couldn’t help but ask … is she still friends with the fellow disco queens and pop princess of the 1980’s? “I like to think I am friends with the saner people in Hollywood – no gimmicks, no scandals. They just do there thing and do it well. Rick Astley and Tiffany still both sound amazing and are working on new material,” Gibson added. “New Kids on the Block, John Knight is still a good friend of mine and came out to support my Gibson Girl Foundation for young artists.” - Associated Press