Nickelodeon Star Ashley Argota Shares New Details About Mom's Alleged Abuse, Including the Night She Was 'Choked' (Exclusive)

In an interview with PEOPLE, the 'True Jackson, VP' alum details her mom's alleged financial, emotional and physical abuse

NEED TO KNOW

• True Jackson, VP alum Ashley Argota Torres opens up to PEOPLE about how her mom allegedly financially, emotionally and physically abused her between the ages of 15 and 22
• Argota Torres claims her mom “choked her” after she returned to their family home from a date at 22, prompting her to move out and cut off contact
• Argota Torres shares how motherhood has healed her, and why she felt ready to share her story now

At age 15 in 2008, Ashley Argota Torres appeared to be living every kid's dream while starring alongside Keke Palmer in the Nickelodeon teen sitcom True Jackson, VP.

But behind the scenes, the actress, now 32, tells PEOPLE she was struggling as she endured what she claims was deep emotional, physical and financial abuse from her mom, whose name she has chosen to keep private.

"I'm a mom now, so I feel like I have a new perspective and a new outlook on everything," says Argota Torres, who shares 13-month-old son Michael with husband Mick Torres. "I would never do to my son what my mom did to me."

Argota Torres recently made headlines for speaking out about the alleged abuse on TikTok.

Now, she's going deeper into everything she went through.

"So many people have commented on my TikToks, like, 'You were my childhood. I had no idea that this was happening to you,' or, 'My childhood is ruined,'" she says. "I'm not meaning to ruin anyone's childhood, but if sharing this can help even just a few people, then it's totally worth it. And as a new mom, I feel like I get to rewrite my story here."

Argota Torres’ mom has not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Argota Torres' acting career began when she was just 5.

At 11, she booked the role of Young Nala in the Broadway tour of Disney's The Lion King. That's when she says she was first set up with a Coogan account, a special bank account required in certain states for child actors to protect a portion of their earnings from being touched until they turn 18.

Throughout her childhood, Argota Torres claims her mom kept her isolated outside of work by choosing to homeschool her and by choosing to have the family live about two hours outside of L.A., where she'd often have to travel for auditions.

She says her mom's abuse really ramped up when she began shooting True Jackson, VP.

"I was starting to make friends and getting close to my cast, so I think she felt her control and her manipulation starting to slip," she says.

If she was ever invited to a birthday party or to hangout with her friends, Argota Torres says her mom would insist on going with her and waiting in the car. When it came to her physical appearance, she says her mom would frequently criticize it, her nose in particular.

"I would have to sit there and pinch the bridge of my nose all the time because she was like, 'Your nose is too flat, so you need to pinch your nose to make sure it's not flat,'" she says.

Argota Torres claims her mom also exerted control using finances.

Although Argota Torres was "earning a lot of money" from True Jackson, VP, she claims her mom had full and total control of her accounts, including her Coogan account.

"No matter how much was put away in my Coogan account, she would've spent it," she says. "I don't know where that Coogan money went. I was 15, so I totally trusted her with all of the finances. She would say, 'All right, this is the bill, and this is how much you're going to input into the computer, and this is what we're going to pay,' but I never knew how much was on my accounts."

Argota Torres says her dad similarly trusted his wife with his finances.

"She would deposit my dad's paycheck, and she would give him $100," claims Argota Torres. "He would have to stretch that for the week, which was so crazy to me because he was a truck driver."

Towards the end of her run on True Jackson, VP in 2011, Argota Torres was accepted to New York University to study nursing.

After deferring a year to film Nickelodeon's Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures, which was later cancelled after one season, she set off for her first year of school.

"I signed up for my dorm in secret, because my mom obviously didn't want me to stay in a dorm," she says. "She wanted me to stay with family, so she could keep an eye on me. But, on the last day of signing up for the dorms, I got an email, and I ran upstairs and signed up as quickly as I could."

Argota Torres says that year she spent away at school was "the greatest thing ever."

"It really showed me that I could be independent, because as much as my mom called and texted and FaceTimed and tried to check in, she wasn't there," she says. "A friend of mine always says, 'I remember you called one day, and you said you were walking in the park just because you could.' That's something that I couldn't ever do with her around."

At one point while she was away at NYU, Argota Torres claims her mom told her she had bought another house outside of L.A., which Argota Torres claims was purchased with her money.

"I just got this video of her with the key to the new house," she says.

Argota Torres says that made it all the more surprising when she returned home from her first year at NYU and her mom told her they didn't have enough money to send her back for her second year.

"She wrote me a letter that she left in my room that said, 'We don't have enough money. You're not going back to school. You're going to stay home,'" she says. "We never spoke about it again."

While living back in L.A. with her mom, Argota Torres, then 22, began a stage production of "Romeo and Juliet."

She soon grew a crush on one of her cast mates and texted a family member about him.

"My mom looked through my phone while I was in the shower one day, and she saw those text messages, and she was furious," she claims. "There was something about this instance where I knew that I was just done. I had an audition that day, and I said, 'I'm going to drive to L.A., and maybe we can talk about this when I get home, but I'm going to go without you.'"

During her drive to L.A., Argota Torres called her dad and told him what happened.

"He let me talk it out, and to my surprise, he said, 'I totally understand. I'm just glad that you're still talking to me,'" she says. "My dad and I had never talked about it up until then. We always just let my mom take the reins on everything. I think when my dad said that, I was like, 'If I have the support of my dad, then I can do anything.'"

From that moment, Argota Torres says it was a "gnarly six to eight months" of trying to get out of the family house. "I just knew it wasn't safe there for me anymore," she says.

During one particularly disturbing incident, Argota Torres claims her mom attacked her after she returned home from a date with her crush in the "Romeo and Juliet" cast.

"When I got home, she told me to come to her room, and I did, and she asked me to take off the cardigan I was wearing," she recalls. "I said, 'Why?' She said, 'Because I need to see what he did to you.' I was like, 'Whoa, what? I just went to the movies with him.'"

Argota Torres says she listened to her mom and took off her cardigan, but things only escalated.

"Then she kept telling me to take off the tank top," she claims. "I was like, 'I'm not going to do that.' She was like, 'You have to quit the show.' I said, 'I'm not going to quit the show. It's not going to happen.'"

"Out of nowhere, she lunged for me," she continues. "She choked me, she attacked me. It gave me a vocal node, because she had come at me so aggressively. I'd never had a vocal problem in my life until that happened. In that moment I was like, 'I don't know if having a relationship with her is the right thing anymore.'"

The next morning, Argota Torres packed her bags for her aunt's house.

She says leaving inspired her dad to also move out and later file for divorce.

"When they got divorced, there was a sense of guilt like, 'Oh my God, did I cause this?,'" she says. "My dad's been really adamant that, no, it's something that he wanted to do for a long time. I don't think we could have done this if it wasn't together."

While continuing to work, Argota Torres stayed at her aunt's house and crashed on friends' couches. She soon realized though that her paychecks were still being sent to her family home.

"My mom would take all of those paychecks that got sent to the house and then deposit them and leave me just a few bucks, basically," she claims. "So, my dad and I went to the bank, and we opened secret bank accounts."

Argota Torres eventually was able to save up for a small studio apartment in L.A., which her dad stayed in with her until he could also get back out on his own two feet.

"My dad always reminds me that when we left, we both had $25," she says. "We had nothing, because she had everything."

During the divorce proceedings, Argota Torres claims her dad learned that his wife had been gambling with both his and Argota Torres' earnings through the years.

"He pulled bank statements for the divorce, and we kept seeing charges from all of these casinos," she claims. "It was sad, but at the same time, it made so much sense because she would always say, 'We don't have enough money,' even though I had worked so hard for so long."

Argota Torres says she'd seen her mom frequent casinos for years but had no idea she was using their money.

"We would be on our way home from True Jackson, and she would be like, 'We're driving past our house and going to the casino,'" Argota Torres recalls. "I would literally do my homework in the car while she was in the casino, and I would sleep in the car. Then, at 3 a.m., she'd wake me up, and she'd be like, 'All right, we're going home.' So, I knew that she was gambling. I didn't know how much until the divorce."

Since leaving at 22, Argota Torres says she's heard from her mom several times, "usually when something is going well in my life."

She says her mom has not met her husband or her son, and she plans to keep their relationship "no contact" going forward.

Argota Torres also has not spoken to her older brother, who she says is hearing impaired and dependent on their mom. When she left, she says her brother told her he could not do the same but that he "understood" her decision.

"In addition to blocking my mom, I've had to block my brother's number as well, because she takes his phone," Argota Torres says. "It's difficult, and I wish things were different there. I hope one day we can have a relationship. I feel like he was caught in the crossfire, and he doesn't deserve that."

Argota Torres wrote about her experience with her mom in her and her husband's first screenplay for their Mismo production company, called The Kindness of Strangers.

The screenplay won the 2023 Asian American International Screenplay Competition.

"I think we told this story in a very truthful and honest and heartbreaking but very uplifting way," she says. "So, I'm hoping that we do get to make it a film, and that it inspires a lot of people. To have a teammate like my husband has been really incredible."

In addition to her husband, Argota Torres says she has a village of support.

It includes her dad, whom she remains close to, her in-laws and her "chosen family" of friends, including actress Marissa Jaret Winokur.

"My life is so enriched by all of my chosen family," she says. "I have so many people around me who really do show us unconditional love."

Then, of course, there's her son.

"Motherhood has been so healing for me," Argota Torres says. "I mean, down to the features that Michael has of mine, like my nose, I'm like, 'Man, you're so cute. Why did she ever tell me to pinch my nose?'"

"We're here trying to break generational trauma," she continues. "I get to raise Michael the way I wish I was raised."

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