rowing up in the spotlight isn’t as glamorous as it might seem, according to Big Time Rush band member James Maslow. The 22-year-old singer and actor, who plays the role of James Diamond on Nickeloden’s “Big Time Rush,” says that even celebs experience bullying and other typical high-school traumas.

Yesterday on HuffPost Live, Maslow opened up about picked on for being the new kid and labeled a theater nerd.

“You go into a performing arts program when there’s other sports teams going on, you get picked on for that,” Maslow explained. “But the way I overcame that is that I also played sports and I was an athlete, so I never minded a challenge.”

Now, in addition to playing James Diamond, the performer is working in the studio with his band, choosing from over 50 songs they’ve written for a new album. The singer and actor has a slew of devoted fans — not to mention over a million Twitter followers — and he says that he’s dedicated to being a good role model for them.

“I have a lot of younger fans, obviously the choices I make often influence them. But having said that, it’s kind of the best motivation in the world to stay positive and make good choices,” he said. “And given we’ve been doing this going on four, five years now a lot of my fans have grown up with me. They’re getting older, too.”

BTR fans (more commonly known as “Rushers”) chimed in on the segment to ask their favorite pop star questions. The actor — who’s been in a relationship with Halston Sage of Nickeloden’s “How to Rock” for two years — even entertained a proposal from sisters Sarah and Tasha, who asked him, “Can you marry me? Please? Please?”

Source: HuffingtonPost.com