Los Angeles: Vanessa Hudgens, who stayed in a pregnancy shelter, a residential home for adolescent teens, to prepare for her role in "Gimme Shelter", says the place was "terrifying". But she believes it helped her get into the skin of her character.
"Gimme Shelter" revolves around a pregnant teenager who runs away from her abusive mother to find her real father.
The "High School Musical" actress said that initially it was a "shock" for her as she had no family or anyone who she knew in the shelter, reports contactmusic.com.
"Being in this environment was such a shock to begin with and just knowing that I was going to completely disassociate myself from the life that I`m used to was terrifying," collider.com quoted Hudgens as saying.
"It was really scary for me to be out there on my own. I didn`t have any family with me. It really made me get into that mindset and be able to just become one of the girls and in their same circumstance," she added.
The stay at the shelter also helped her understand the lives of these women.
"I`m so grateful I had the time to go and stay there because it really allowed their stories to become reality rather than just a story. They really opened up to me and they shared their story with me. I just got to witness first hand how strong these young women are," she added.
