Bella Thorne is opening up about her experiences as a child actress, including her run-ins with Disney and being fired from a movie because the director claimed she was flirting with him when she was only 10 years old.
On the High Low with EmRata podcast, the 25-year-old actress discussed the sexualization of women in Hollywood with Emily Ratajkowski. Thorne discussed a specific encounter that, in her words, still “drives her nuts” today.
“I had a director give me feedback once and I was 10. … The casting director calls my agent and my agent calls my mom and they’re like, ‘So, she’s not moving forward because the director felt like she was flirting with him and it made him really uncomfortable,'” Thorne recalled.
As it occurred when Thorne was so young, Ratajkowski highlighted that the incident was an apt representation of “Hollywood and pedophilia and the sexualization of children,” which caused the actress to wonder what she had done to upset the director.
“I … am trying to find almost fault in myself. Like, ‘What did you do, Bella? What did you do? You made him feel like this,'” Thorne said. Ultimately, she’s reminded herself that she wasn’t the problem. “What the f*** are you talking about, man? I don’t give a f*** what the f*** I said. I don’t care if I said, eat my p**** right now. She is 10 years old, why ever would you think that?”
But that was not the end! she had more experiences of such nature in the future.
“One time I almost got fired off the Disney Channel because I was 14 and I wore a two-piece on the beach,” the former Shake It Up star said. “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.”
Thorne claimed that the images of her were “all over,” with comments like “this is so filthy” and “small child” being made in reference to her. “Accusing me and putting pressure on Disney to dismiss me, but Disney obviously didn’t terminate me”
