Vanessa Hudgens is trying to find a silver lining in her nudie pic scandal. The Internet-exposed Disney starlet, 18, tells Seventeen she hopes her mortifying experience will serve as a lesson to any camera-wielding young "High School Musical" watchers contemplating taking a butt-nekkid self-portrait and emailing it to someone special.

"It was very traumatic, and I am extremely upset it happened," she sniffles to the magazine. "I hope all my fans can learn from my mistake and make smart decisions."

And even though Hudgens says she's feeling "much better now," the snaps are still a sore spot.

"... Truthfully I don't like talking about it," she admits. "It was something that was meant to be private, and even though it isn't anymore, I'd still like to keep it as private as I can."

But Vanessa does reveal how she learned the pictures had gone public, recalling, "I found out from my manager. We heard some story was going to break in the tabloids, and I was like, What?!? A few days later, the picture came out while I was on vacation in Australia."

She exhales, "Thank God, I wasn't home -- it would have sucked if I was at home. So I got to be away from L.A. for about a millisecond. But when I came back, it got kind of crazy."

Hudgens says she was buoyed during the photo kerfuffle by her "family, friends and fans," not to mention her understanding mom.

"I was just open with her, and she was just so cute. She was like, 'Well, everyone can be naked if they want to,'" she laughingly recalls. "My parents are very supportive of me. And they know I'm a teenager, and yes, kids do stupid things sometimes. It's very unfortunate because with the Internet these days, you don't have a personal life. Nothing is private."

As for why she took the pictures in the first place, she fesses up that they were for a boy, but denies the rumor they were intended for fellow tween idol Drake Bell.

"It definitely wasn't a reach for attention," she says. "Nobody should do that -- your body is yours, and it's special. You shouldn't give it out to whomever. They were for somebody I was dating ... and it was supposed to be private."

Continues the no-longer-rose-colored-glasses-wearing Hudgens, "Nobody was supposed to see it, and it's unfortunate that everybody did. It's just hard because it shows that you can't trust everyone. And you have to shield yourself from situations like that ... You're not as safe as you think you are, and you have to be aware of the people you're around."

"Wait, which of us is supposed to the pretty one again?"

Of life with her perfectly coiffed pretty boy beau Zac Efron, whom she stepped out with Tuesday night for dinner at a Los Angeles eatery, Hudgens says it's "fun," but she's not making any predictions for their future.

"He's a friend and a cute friend who you like. It's nice. But only time will tell," she clichés. "I'm still young, and I have my girlfriends and I have my family. I think that it's definitely important to have balance."

Observes Vanessa, "I think girls can be sucked into the relationship and give too much. They like to be so into their boyfriends, you know? And you can't do that, because you get too infatuated -- and then you lose contact with your friends. It happens to a lot of girls.

And just because her private parts are out there for everyone to see, the actress isn't lacking in confidence when it comes to her career trajectory.

"I think pretty girls in general get a lot of crap in the business, because it's all, 'You're too pretty for that part -- we need someone who's grittier,'" says Vanessa. "But somewhere down the line, I'm going to prove everybody wrong."

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