Bella Thorne Describes “WTF” Moment When Director Accused Her Of “Flirting With Him” at 10 Years Old

A former Disney star has opened up about her “fucking stressful” years as a child actor.

Bella Thorne, known for her roles in Shake It Up and The Babysitter, appeared on Emily Ratajkowski’s podcast High Low with EmRata to talk about being in the spotlight since she was six months old, and the sexualization she faced as a child.

While speaking on the Dec. 27 episode of the podcast, Thorne said processing her sexuality at a young age was rough as the people in her life tried to fit her in a box. “I feel like I’ve rocked the word ‘sex’ for a long time and I’ll always keep rocking this word because it’s what’s been put on me since I was so little, and yet it’s still something that I’ve taken so much of my own power back by owning that word,” Thorne said.

After Ratajkowski recounted a story about being sexualized at 16 years old — when an agent told her, “This face, this is how we know this girl gets fucked. You gotta give a lesson, Emily, on this” — Thorne shared a similar story that occurred in her childhood.

“I had a director give me feedback once, and I was 10. The casting director calls my agent and the 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 said.

Thorne continued, “What the fuck are you talking about, man? I don’t give a fuck, what the fuck I said. I don’t care if I said, ‘Eat my pussy right now.’ She is 10 years old! Why would you ever think that? Why?”

The actor did not name the director or the project, but said the moment happened during a director session, when there isn’t time for such conversation to occur. She 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 fuck are you talking about, man?”

Ratajkowski was in disbelief over the story, saying she couldn’t believe that the director’s comments were relayed through multiple people and nobody could find the fault in them.

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Thorne admitted that she returns to that incident “every day,” wondering, “What did you do, Bella? What did you do that made him feel like this?” although she noted that “that thought” is “part of the problem.”

This isn’t the first time Thorne has opened up about facing misconduct at a young age. As part of the #TimesUp movement in 2018, she shared on Instagram that she was sexually abused at a young age. She wrote, “I was sexually abused and physically growing up from the day I can remember till I was 14.”

Thorne ended the podcast by talking about what she’s currently working on, including a movie and two shorts, one which is based on a true story, which she described as “harsh” and “unfortunate.”

As we all know, Thorne is an extremely sex-positive person – even if she hasn’t always articulated it well. The 25-year-old sparked controversy in 2020 when she started an OnlyFans account and broke records by earning $1 million on the platform in under 24 hours, but didn’t deliver the advertised content to her subscribers. Shortly after, the platform implemented new payment rules which disadvantaged regular sex workers.

In response, Thorne denied the correlation and released a series of excuses, claiming to be researching a role for a film for Sean Baker, which he denied. The actor also said that the money raised was going to fund her production company, per The Los Angeles Times.

The year prior, she directed an adult film, which earned her a Visionary Award from PornHub.

If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.