Jason Earles has admitted that he lied about his age to land a role on Hannah Montana.
The actor, now 48, played Jackson Stewart, the older brother of Miley Stewart, on the fan-favourite Disney Channel show from 2006 through to 2011.
However, what fans didn't know was that he was harbouring a huge secret. At the time of his audition for the TV show, the actor was 28 years old, but Jackson was supposed to be 16.
Speaking on the first episode of Best of Both Our Worlds: The Official, Unofficial Hannah Montana Podcast on Tuesday (17 March), the actor revealed that he lied to casting bosses and told them he was a whole decade younger than his actual age.
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Earles explained: "I was desperately afraid that I was going to be fired and recast because I had a big secret. So, when I auditioned for the show, I lied to them and told them I was 18 years old."
"What's funny is Lisa London, who cast it, when she brought me in, she was like, ‘Hey, I know you're 19,’ because I had lied to her in a different audition. And she was like, ‘Would you be okay, when you go in there, would you lie and tell them that you're 18?’ I was like, ‘I think I can do that,’” he recalled.
Earles added, "It was another reason why I almost didn't audition for the show because I was like, 'I'm too old.' The character is 16. Nobody's going to buy it."
But, shockingly, they actually did.
According to Earles, nobody actually discovered the lie and found out his real age until halfway through the first season, and it was too late to recast.
The actor recalled: "I remember one of the higher-up network executives showed up on show night, and he was like, 'Hey, so, you're 28.' And I was like, 'I am.'"
On top of the ten years shaved off of his age, to make the lie believable, he also chose not to disclose that he was married.
Earles continued: "And he's like, 'So, you're married? And I was like, 'Yeah, that girl that I keep making out with, yeah. That's my wife.' And he was like, 'Uh, any more any more secrets? Anything we should know?'"
When the actor confirmed that he didn't have any children, the TV boss allegedly responded with: "Let's go ahead and keep it that way for a few years." Awkward.
Essentially, he had to keep his entire life a secret for the next six years while working on the Disney show, and couldn't correct fans who assumed his wife was his mother.
The actor admitted: "I remember going to dinner with my wife at the time and people coming up and saying, 'You must be so proud of your son,'. And I was like, 'Well, all right. Sex is off the table tonight. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah."
Topics: Disney, Celebrity, Entertainment, TV And Film, Podcasts
Madison Burgess