Bella Thorne’s Powerful Message to Abuse Survivors
The former Disney child star has issued a tearful salute to fellow survivors of sexual abuse, days after she revealed heartbreaking details of her own childhood trauma.
The actress Bella Thorne, who disclosed this weekend that she was sexually abused “from the day I can remember” until the age of 14, has posted a tearful video in which she thanks fellow victims of abuse for sharing their stories.
“Reading about all the people sharing your sexual-abuse stories with me from mine and I just want to say I’m really proud of all you guys,” Thorne said in the powerful video, posted as an Instagram story. “I’m really proud. Stay strong. Peace. I love you guys.”
The video has since been reposted on third-party twitter accounts.
The Disney star, who was made famous by her role as CeCe Jones in the Disney dance show Shake It Up, detailed her claims of sexual abuse as a child in an Instagram post over the weekend.
This isn't the first time Thorne, who was touched by tragedy when her ex-boyfriend, rapper Lil Peep, was found dead on his tour bus last year, has mentioned abuse, although she had not previously gone into such detail.
Back in December, a troll tweeted Thorne after she posted a lighthearted image of herself in a purple suit with the message, “I would fuck this suit if I could.”
The troll wrote: “What did Disney do to this girl?! I think she was molested?”
The 20-year-old replied with the candid message, “Yeah I was. So it wasn’t Disney.”
A day later, on Dec. 8, she tweeted: “The world can be a sick place sometimes,” but had made no further comment about the abuse.
Bella’s Cuban father died in a car accident when she was just 9 years old.
Her mother raised Bella and her three sisters, and the actress has previously talked of her difficult childhood, saying she suffered from dyslexia and was bullied at school for speaking Spanish.
She began working as a child actress at age 6, using the money to help support her family.