Bella Thorne Says She Was Fired From A Job When She Was 10 Because The Director Claimed She Was Flirting With Him

There have been many instances in the last several years of celebrities coming forward who have told stories of being sexually assaulted in Hollywood—and some of them were minors at the time. Demi Lovato came out earlier this year to speak about being raped as a teenager by someone who worked for Disney, and this is just one of many stories we've heard over the years. Actress Bella Thorne was a guest on Emily Ratajkowski's podcast "High Low," where she spoke about an uncomfortable moment in her childhood that made her feel unnecessarily sexualized.

Bella Thorne Says She Was Fired from a Job When She Was 10 Because the Director Claimed She Was Flirting with Him

Bella Thorne started acting at a very young age and she's best known for her role in "Shake It Up," a Disney sitcom that lasted three seasons. On Emily's podcast, she opened up about an incident that made her feel as though she was being preyed upon by an older man.

"I had a director once give me feedback and I was 10," Bella says. "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.'"

"Oh my god, you were ten?" Emily responds.

"What the f*ck are you talking about, man?! I don't give a f*ck what the f*ck I said," Bella says. "I don't care if I said, 'Eat my p*ssy right now.' She is ten years old! Why ever would you think that? Why? Why?"

Bella also explained that this complaint came from her time in a director's session, which is apparently a setting that doesn't allow for much else other than reading your lines and hearing some feedback. "You can't really say or do much," she says, adding that there's no time to go sit on the director's lap and send an inappropriate message.

"Your'e just putting it on a 10-year-old child and making it like they made an adult man uncomfortable is insane," Emily says. "And then that was relayed to a casting director who was happy to relay that to your mom. If you need a more f*cked up story about Hollywood and, like, pedophilia and the sexualization of children, I don't know that there is one."

Emily shared the clip on her Instagram and it sparked a conversation in the comment section. While there are many people who are commenting in support of Bella and talking about how creepy the director was, there were just as many people who had a different take on the situation.

"Why is everybody acting like the dude was a creep in this when he actually acted like the exact opposite of a predator? I don’t get how him feeling uncomfortable in this situation and being aware of how her flirting“ (whatever it might have been for her) might look sus and creepy. Him not playing into it is the exact opposite of predatory. Him being aware of it is a big W for him. People trying to act like that makes him any sort of creep are dellusional and act like false accusations of any sort could ruin his life. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Thats a big W for him," someone commented.

"Maybe he was trying to help. Children who are abused like Bella often act out and he was trying to point that out in an unbalanced way," another person wrote.

Bella has talked publicly before about how she was sexually abused from the ages of 6 to 14, and that she felt "ashamed" and "disgusting" by it. She talked about why she didn't go to the police and why she never named the man who allegedly molested her. She wrote about her experience briefly in an Instagram post in 2018 in support of the #TimesUp movement.

"I was sexually abused and physically growing up from the day I can remember till I was 14..when I finally had the courage to lock my door at night and sit by it. All damn night. Waiting for someone to take advantage of my life again. Over and over I waited for it to stop and finally it did. But some of us aren't as lucky to get out alive," she wrote in the caption.

It's not crazy to entertain the idea that perhaps this director was sensing something off about Bella when she was a child and he decided to act on it rather than just let her stay on set.

"I don't know if you're aware that children that suffer sexu4l 4buse can show sexual problematic behavior! I can agree that children don't know what flirting is but they could do it and not realizing they are doing it and that it is wrong! Of course, in those situations children can act on ways that are uncomfortable for adults! I'm not saying Bella did, all I'm saying is that is possible!!!! And I agree the correct thing to do is talk to the guardians of that child," someone commented.

"I have a genuine question not trying to get political at all," another person commented. "Why is this so surprising when 10 year olds are being taught to learn about sex/sex changes/ etc? I personally think it’s awful what happened - and to your point - 10 years olds shouldn’t be aware of flirting."

This user brings up an excellent point. We live in a culture that teaches girls about sexuality and sex from a very young age. It's not insane to consider that perhaps a 10-year-old who was sexually abused for years and also grew up in Hollywood, which is known to sexualize children from a young age, might act inappropriately with an older man without even realizing it herself. Some people in the comments also pointed out the language she used when recounting this incident. Bella shouted explicit things from the point of view of her 10-year-old self, raising concerns. Why would she even shout the phrase "eat my p*ssy" when talking about a child interacting with a grown man?

This isn't to say that there isn't a child sexualization problem in Hollywood, but this particular story does bring up some questions that need to be answered before it can be categorized as pedophilic.