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I've been bullied my whole life, whether it was about my peers or comments on Instagram or Twitter, whatever. And I never talked about my story, really. I feel like I've kind of accepted it because I realized that just comes with the territory.

When I was in high school, I got bullied through social media - on the Internet, on my Facebook. That was hard for me, and I think social media has made it easy for people to bully other people on-line because they can just post anything they want anonymously.

There are different types of bullying; one of the biggest ones out there right now is cyberbullying. I had the privilege of filming an 'Austin & Ally' episode centered on cyberbullying, how it can get out of control, the ups and downs that you feel, and how to deal with it.

I've been actually really very pleased to see how much awareness was raised around bullying, and how deeply it affects everyone. You know, you don't have to be the loser kid in high school to be bullied. Bullying and being picked on comes in so many different forms.

The whole bullying issue has really struck a nerve with me. It affects so many different types of people at a vital time in their lives.

By the time I came out, that kind of stopped it. The bullying stopped when I claimed myself and proved that I wasn't afraid. A lot of it was when I was hiding when I was younger.

I was the kind of person who got bullied and loved the attention of it.

I remember asking one of my agents, like, 'Hey, is this Instagram thing good for models, or is it bad?' And they said, 'No. Keep doing it. Heidi Klum, or whoever, has millions of followers, and that doesn't hurt them.' So, I kept with it. I think it definitely helped.

I was bullied as a boy - lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.