December 27, 2022
Bella Thorne shared a disturbing anecdote where a casting director accused her of making advances on him when she was only ten years old.
On Tuesday, 27 December, Bella Throne made a guest appearance in Emily Ratajkowski's podcast High Low with EmRata where they discussed their experiences of being sexualised in Hollywood at a young age.
According to People, Thorne shared an incident where a director accused him of flirting with him and rejected her casting.
The actress recalled, "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.'
The 25 year old said that she thinks about that moment "everyday". She said, "I'm trying to find, almost, fault in myself, Like, 'What did you do, Bella? What did you do that made him feel like this?' And every time I'm like, 'Bella, stop it. Even that thought right there is becoming part of the problem. Don't even think that thought.' It does drive me crazy."
Thorne, who found fame in 2010 after starring alongside Zendaya in Disney Channel's Shake It Up revealed that it was "f---ing stressful" to be a child actor in the public eye.
She further noted that this was especially the case when it came to discovering her sexuality with "not only the whole world watching you, but specifically men, and people and women around you telling you this is the box you have to fit in."
The actress shared, "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."
Ratajkowski also shared her experience when a modelling agent told her "This face — this is how we know this girl gets f---ed. You gotta give a lesson, Emily, on this." She added, "But that is the reality of being a young woman in the industry."