Actress and musician Bella Thorne opened up about an incident that almost resulted in her being fired from Disney Channel's Shake it Up. She starred opposite Zendaya in the hit series from 2010 to 2013. Thorne, who is now 25, recounted the ordeal during Tuesday's episode of Emily Ratajkowski‘s podcast High Low With EmRata. She shared:
"I almost got fired off the Disney Channel because I was 14, and I wore a two-piece on the beach. This stylist that I was hanging out with put this chain on me that’s, like, a body chain. I don’t know? I don’t care. There was a fan; they got a photo of me on the beach. I almost got fired. It was all over the media. It was literally viral in that time. It was, ‘How dare this little girl do this? This is so disgusting.'”
She added that Disney Channel executives became concerned over the "heat" they were receiving as a result of the pictures, so they advised that the 14-year-old "wear boy shorts and a loose t-shirt" the next time she was at the beach.
Before appearing on Shake It Up, Thorne had small television roles in series including The O.C. and Entourage, and a major recurring role as Margaux Darling on ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money. Shake it Up was her breakthrough role, and she and Zendaya appeared in multiple music videos together. Thorne's other notable credits include The Duff, Infamous, The Babysitter film series and Freeform's Famous in Love series.
Bella Thorne's Other Concerning Allegation
Being scolded for wearing a bikini was not the only concerning incident that Thorne discussed during her podcast appearance. Thorne stated that while she was 10 years old, a casting director let her agent know that they would not be casting the young actress as she "was flirting with him [casting director] and it made him really uncomfortable.” Thorne elaborated that the possibility of her flirting with the older man was close to impossible:
"Also, you’re in a director session,” Thorne said. “You can’t really say or do much. You do the scene, you say ‘hello,’ you walk out. There’s no time to like, ‘Let me go sit on your lap or make you feel uncomfortable.’ What the f— are you talking about, man?"
The actress added that she still struggles with guilt stemming from the incident, wondering what she could have done to make him feel uncomfortable, before adding: "And every time I’m like, ‘Bella, stop it.’ Even that thought right there is becoming part of the problem … it drives me crazy."
Thorne has been forthright about her tumultuous childhood before. According to her 2019 memoir The Life of a Wannabe Mogul: Mental Disarray, she was sexually abused as a child. Thorne joins a growing list of actors, including Natalie Portman, Millie Bobby Brown, and Ariel Winters, who have shared details of inappropriate behavior stemming from industry adults during their youth.