Revealing One of My Top Secret (Now Not So Secret) Celebrity Crushes From the Past

As an OG Disney fan of the shows like Hannah Montana, Phineas and Ferb, and Wizards of Waverly Place, there is little shock that my first crush would be from one of these shows.

It is also little surprise that David Henrie, who plays Justin Russo, would be a major contender.

If you have not guessed by now Justin was one of my first celebrity crushes. It was not to the excessive streak that some seem to imagine when it comes to celebrities. You know the stereotypical posters on the wall, phone backgrounds, multiple saved photos, knowing all the lines and quotes that was ever uttered out of his mouth.

Watching interviews was foreign to me at the time. I literally had no idea that bloopers, behind the scenes, interviews, or YouTube existed for a while.

I was more invested in the character himself. He was smart, caring, protective of his family, good at magic, sarcastic, and had the opportunity for some amazing comebacks.

He is also quite nerdy, sometimes insecure in himself, and very awkward. In other words I thought he was adorable and thus my crush started developing.

Oh and did I forget to mention he is a wizard!

He makes it a point to study magic every day because while he loves to discover and learn more about the world in general, he never has enough of the world he was so lucky to be born into. The weight of being the oldest made him strive to know all he can and make his parents proud.

The only thing he ever asked for himself was to live to be one of the best wizards that he could be. Throughout the series he spent as much time as he could devoting himself to the practice and study of magic.

He always held a small resentment in his sister for it coming so naturally without trying as hard. Both were equally great wizards.

I have always admired the personality over the looks even when it came to fictional characters. I just think that if you cannot stand their personality, or the way they treat people, or their attitude than why like them? Looks fade.

Even if they will forever look like that in the movie world and every time you fantasize the character the oldest they get is the last time the show aired on that last day, I still find that if I cannot stand who they are at the core than what does that say about my fantasy?

What does that say about what I will look for in reality?

I mean those are deeper questions, but at the time that I was actually starting to develop crushes it was later on in my life. I just did not think anything of it as I would gravitate toward the book world. I would read about fantasy and adventure.

I did not notice the way the characters were described for a while. I was all about the world away from reality. I did not want to live in reality sometimes. I would put myself in the main character. That way I would read a book as if I were the main character rather than watch the story unfold.

I was a part of it. I was my own heroine. I felt smart, brave, sometimes sassy.

So when I finally saw the character as the character, as the person I was watching, that is when I noticed what I liked to see. That is the moment when I watched Wizards of Waverly Place.

The setting involved wizards having to blend into the real world. They had to go to school, work at their family store, and do chores around the house. Essentially they were just like you and me.

Except they had magic.

Realism is a powerful element in storytelling and cinematography that should not be ignored. This element was incorporated in a way that intrigued me to come back for episode after episode.

I found myself invested in the characters, in the world, had my favorites, and had my villains. Looking back it wasn't a ground-breaking cinematic experience, but it was a learning experience.

As far as my crush on Justin. . .

As of the time I am typing this I am undecided. I think that what I remember of him will still hold up. He was not perfect by any means.

He got frustrated easily when things did not go according to plan, he was arrogant with what he knew, he thought of himself as more than he was, but that also played into his fear of never being good enough.

He was relatable in that he was not perfect. That is what I found appealing.

I would say that, yes, he is still a good choice and one that I would still happily admit to should the question ever be asked of me.