Bella Thorne: Disney, Dating, & Reclaiming Her Story
with Bella Thorne
5 Aug 20264 min read34m
TL;DR
Bella Thorne reveals she became her family's sole financial support at 13 after her father died in a motorcycle accident when she was nine, leaving nothing behind — a pressure she says warped her relationship with work and herself for years. She and Zendaya, both 14 at the time, secretly snuck off the Shake It Up set during a Good Luck Charlie crossover to hash out the rivalry adults and media were manufacturing between them — a conversation Thorne calls her first real woman-to-woman moment. She also discloses she couldn't dance at all when cast as CC Jones, taking three dance classes a day for seven months to keep the role.
Key Moments
Bella Thorne
“I would cry a lot. I would definitely cry a lot afterwards. And I was in a room full of like amazing dancers, so talented. And here I was in the front.”
Bella recounting the emotional toll of learning choreography while surrounded by trained dancers who deserved her front-row spot
“When we were on our Good Luck Charlie crossover, uh we escaped to another set in the middle of live taping which is really ballsy badass and like rebellious.”
Bella describing how she and Zendaya snuck off set at age 14 to have a private conversation about the rivalry being manufactured around them
“It was my first experience woman to woman girl to girl where you actually can speak and you can both be heard about the different things you've been experiencing and what people are saying and how they're trying to do this to you.”
Bella reflecting on what the hidden conversation with Zendaya meant to her personally, beyond just resolving set tension
Bella Thorne is an actress, director, and musician who first rose to fame as CC Jones on Disney Channel's Shake It Up starting around 2010. She became the breadwinner for her family at age 13 after her father died in a motorcycle accident when she was nine, leaving the family with no life insurance or savings. Since her Disney era, she has moved into music, adult content, and filmmaking, and is currently engaged and expecting.
Takeaways
1
Casting on presence beats casting on skill Bella was cast as CC Jones on Shake It Up despite being unable to do choreography at all — the creator told her she simply walked in as the character and nothing could change that. She then took three dance classes a day for seven months between pilot and series pickup to earn the role she'd already been given.
2
Manufactured rivalry between women serves gatekeepers Bella describes how media, fans, and industry adults explicitly pitted her against Zendaya on a show where they literally played best friends — echoing a broader pattern of artificially limiting spots for women to force them to compete. The two 14-year-olds resolved it themselves by sneaking off a live set to talk directly, something no adult facilitated.
3
Child stars carry adult financial weight young Bella became the primary breadwinner for her family of six at 13, after her father died leaving no savings or life insurance. That financial pressure — knowing the house and food depended on her performance — made mistakes feel existential rather than educational, warping how she related to work for years.
4
Disney child labor blurred adult and child identity Bella describes spending all her waking hours on set with adults, being held accountable like an adult when she made mistakes, while simultaneously being sexualized by press anticipating her 16th and 18th birthdays — all while being expected to present as a child for the audience. She calls it a cognitive impossible load for a developing brain.
5
Burnout from output without self-knowledge compounds Bella did four movies a year at a period when she also didn't know herself well, and says the combination of constant output and lack of self-awareness is what truly burnt her out — not the volume alone. She now describes feeling 'lighter' as the clearest signal of genuine recovery.