Vanessa Hudgens -- High School Musical Gone Wild?

Besides the usual chatter about Britney Spears, Brangelina, Paris Hilton, and other Hollywood royalty, there have been some new blips on the celebrity gossip radar. High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens recently made headlines when a nude picture of her made its way around the Internet.

At first, many people believed that it was a fake. After all, young starlets never do stupid things like that just when they are becoming successful, right? (Sarcasm, obviously. Don't even get me started on Lindsay Lohan.) Vanessa's publicist finally confirmed, however, that the picture was indeed authentic.

I have several questions at this point. First of all, why would the publicist think that it would be a good idea to actually admit that the nude picture was real? Most publicists take the "false truth" route these days in order to falsify somewhat lily-white personas for their clients. Second of all, why would Vanessa take this photo? Third of all, who released it to the public? Fourth of all, what does this mean for Vanessa's career (especially at Disney)?

I do not have an answer about the publicist. I personally believe that it was a stupid move to admit to it. Many people said that the photo looked very fake, and Vanessa's party should have taken that and run like the wind. As to why Vanessa took it-rumors are rampant that she took the picture to get boyfriend (and fellow High School Music star) Zac Efron interested in her. This is highly possible.

But who could have released it to the public? We have a few suspects. It could have been Vanessa herself, because she may have seen this as a way to finally break out of the Disney track and move onto bigger, more adult roles (no, not that kind of adult). Another idea is that whoever she gave the picture to (Zac Efron, perhaps) gave it to a friend and the friend released it, or maybe Zac himself released it. It is hard to think of an actual reason why Zac would want to do this, however. We might also think that another High School Music co-star found the picture and released it because he or she was tired of the attention that Vanessa was getting.

As for what this means regarding her career, it probably will not be the end. Disney has already issued a statement saying that they have accepted her apology. Even if Vanessa does not end up having a future at Disney, it is likely that she will go on to other roles; probably a lot less juvenile than the ones she has now.