Disney star on nude pics: Making ‘best of it through humor’

Former Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse has thoughtfully addressed the naked pictures of him that leaked online over the weekend.

And here we thought it was mainly the girls who had problems with these kinds of photos. (We’re looking at you, Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus.)

Best known as the star of “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody� and its spinoffs, as well as for having appeared in “Big Daddy� and “Friends,� Sprouse gained a new level of notoriety via nude photos splashed all over the Internet. One shot shows Sprouse flexing in a mirror wearing white boxers while another shows him naked, partially obscuring his frontal nether-regions with his hand.

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The 21-year-old New York University student cheekily owned up to the pics on Twitter Sunday and even added the tease “n00d pic dealer� to his profile.

“Whoops, guess I’m not 14 and fat anymore,� he tweeted, later adding, “I messed up ... but I’d be a fool not to own up to it. Got to move past it I suppose.�

It’s unclear how the photos leaked in the first place: The Hollywood Gossip said they were posted by an ex, while others sharing the photos said they came from a Tumblr account that has since been removed, Zap2It reported.

By Monday, Sprouse took to his Tumblr to address the situation in detail and explain why he’s been laughing about it.

“First off, I will state that the reason I’m making light of the situation is because I don’t think what I did was wrong,� the actor said. “To be blunt, I was proud of my progress in the gym, thought I looked hot, and wanted to share it. I’m of the mindset that whoever you are, if you are proud of your body and want to show it off, so be it! You do you. There is an odd taboo with the human form (especially in the USA) and I don’t particularly think its a good thing to teach people that you should ‘hide yourself’ as something incredibly sacred. Blah blah blah, that’s a medieval notion.�

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Sprouse, an identical twin, said his bigger concern was the manner in which the photos were made public.

“Secondly, the real problem here was not me sending my pictures to someone, but rather, sending them to the WRONG someone. The real travesty is a misplaced trust, and while I am certainly to blame for it, it is a shame that my private life was somehow forcibly dragged into the public’s perception of me.

“What is wrong is that, generally I try to stay cool and collected with my prose and a role model for kids (maybe not anymore shamefully) and this seemingly inconsequential act will likely affect the youth’s impression of me. Not only that, but I worry somewhat for my artistic integrity, and my academic integrity. Not exactly ideal, but I’m to blame and I’ll look this incident in the eye like a man. I did it, but I’d be damned if I didn’t own that ... like Beyonce would want me to.

The “most important part,� he said is that he gained major traction on social media, saying that he now has 200,000 more followers on Twitter, 40,000 more on Tumblr and 20,000 more on Instagram.

“It seems to me that the majority of people are actually praising this act as some sort of device to receive fame (or infamy). Why? I have no clue, I don’t entirely condone it though. I’ll make it clear my intent was for this not to happen, and how it has affected me so positively is an enigma to me that rings true of the human condition. Maybe people just like to see others mess up? I’m German by blood, so I feel you on that.�

The actor also said that he was proud of his progress at the gym, and that’s why he took the photo in the first place.

“Since I was 14 and husky, I’m not proud of this incident’s potential lasting effects on my academic and artistic integrity. But I’m making the best of it through humor,� he wrote, joking that he planned to get a T-shirt made with the nude photo slapped on it.

“I figured that if every interaction I have from here on is a chance of them having seen me like this, I may as well just show them anyways heh heh,� he joked, adding, “P.S. please stop sending me nudes you will not get any in return despite popular evidence.�

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