‘Jane The Virgin’ Star Justin Baldoni Recalls ‘Awful’ Childhood, Bullying

It’s hard to imagine gorgeous hunk Justin Baldoni from “Jane the Virgin” being bullied as a young boy, but the actor recently confessed on Instagram that he had an “awful” time because of it.

Baldoni posted a photo on Instagram showing him in a bright blue suit. He said that several years ago, he would not have had the courage to wear it because he might “stand out” and get unwanted attention.

READ: Justin Baldoni is proud to be a feminist

The kids from his childhood would talk about him behind his back and make fun of how he looks. As a result, Baldoni grew up thinking nobody really liked him. However, Baldoni was able to shake off that negativity when he tried understanding what everybody else is going through. He learned to be more accepting of his own shortcomings as well as that of other people.

“What I can tell you now, standing on the other side is that all of that changes as you get older, but that feeling of insecurity never really goes away because truthfully...we are all insecure,” he said. “We are all just trying to fit in. So if you are someone out there who is afraid of standing out, or giving your light to the world… please, take a small step today to get out of your comfort zone and be who you were truly meant to.”

Baldoni is lucky because he found his soulmate in his wife, Emily. Together, they have a daughter named Maiya, and Baldoni said he could not be more proud of his small family. “When my daughter was born, I got the chance to witness my wife become a superhero. Moments later I got to stare into the soul of the new love of my life … my daughter, Maiya,” he wrote in a piece for Zap2It. “I will never forget that experience — everything that I thought mattered in life suddenly became irrelevant and my whole world shifted. If I was at all interested in the advancement and empowerment of women before my little Maiya came into this world, I was going to turn it up to hyper-speed now.”

Due to his daughter, Baldoni stressed the need for men to support female empowerment. He hopes to lead by example so that Maiya would grow up in a society that embraces gender equality. Not only that, but Baldoni also hopes that his daughter would grow up to be an achiever and accomplish great things. However, that won’t happen if some people have ill-conceived notions about “manhood.”

“So, what does it mean to be a man? It means to lift up our women and instead of talking about making things better, actually doing something. It means being honest and open and vulnerable,” he said. “It means being present fathers and husbands and making sure that we celebrate the women in our lives instead of inadvertently holding them back because we refuse to change our definition of what a woman should be.”