Bella Thorne began her career in Hollywood as a child model. She became one of the most popular Disney stars on Shake It Up. However, transitioning to adult roles wasn’t easy. She was involved in a nude photo leak scandal in 2019 that damaged her image. She addressed the scandal that “really broke” her. Keep reading for more details on the situation.
Disney Stars ‘Pitted Against’ Each Other
Bella Thorne began modeling and acting at an early age in part to support her family following her father’s death. Her breakout role came in 2010 when she began playing CeCe Jones on Disney’s Shake It Up.
The teen sitcom followed two best friends trying to become professional dancers. Zendaya played the best friend, Rocky Blue. The show lasted for just three seasons. But it had a lasting impact on Bella Thorne. She opened up about the backstage drama on a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast.
Bella Thorne claimed that she and Zendaya were “pitted against” each other. “With women it’s like, ‘We have to make you all beg for one spot … if you can beat each other down and scrap to whatever extent we’re asking you two [and] eat yourselves alive while we have all these spots but for women, it’s just one of you…’“ she said about working in Hollywood
She added, “You go back and we were 12! What’s wrong with you? We are supposed to be best friends. We play best friends. It got pretty bad.”
It got so bad that the two “escaped” to another set to talk things out while filming a crossover on Good Luck Charlie. “We got into it, hashed it out, and it was so beautiful. It was my first experience — woman to woman, girl to girl — where you actually can speak,” she said about their talk. They left the show on good terms, but aren’t close friends.
Their Hollywood careers took very different paths. Zendaya most recently starred in The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Euphoria. Bella Thorne’s most recent appearance was in Find Your Friends in 2025. A nude photo leak damaged her image and career.
Bella Thorne Addresses Backlash Over Nude Photo Leak
It’s not uncommon for celebrities to share strategically posed nude photos. However, Bella Thorne leaked completely nude photos on social media in 2019. She was threatened by a hacker and decided to take control of the situation. Unfortunately, it blew up in her face.
I think the worst part of that was people saying, ‘Well, you did this. You are faking it. You just wanna show us your t—. You want us so badly to see your private parts that that’s why you’re doing it. You want it.’ And that, to me, like, really broke me then. That like, really, really broke me,” she said on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
However, leaking the photos ultimately helped get the hacker caught. She received a call from the FBI and worked with them for over a year to track down the hacker. “So, if I had not posted those screenshots … they wouldn’t have caught him,” she said.
Bella Thorne broke records in 2020 when she joined OnlyFans and earned $1 million in the first 24 hours. She retired from the platform in 2024 after reportedly making $67 million in total.
According to IMDb, she has several upcoming acting projects in the works. Stay tuned for more details on her career.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger