Former Disney child actress Bella Thorne cleared the air on Wednesday’s episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast.
The iconic Shake It Up star appeared on the podcast, in which she and host Alex Cooper dove into Thorne’s rumored feud with former co-star Zendaya.
“We have to make you guys all beg for one spot so that we can have the 80 million other ones,” the 28-year-old said on how “the patriarchy” put her and Zendaya in competition.
“If you guys can beat each other down... eat yourselves alive... while we have all these spots... for women, just one of you.”
“God damn, they were 12,” the actress said, reflecting on her childhood competition with Zendaya. “They’re supposed to be best friends! They play best friends!”
Annabella Avery “Bella” Thorne had her big break as spunky teenager CeCe Jones on Shake It Up, a show about two best friends pursuing their dreams of becoming professional dancers. Zendaya played CeCe’s best friend, Roxy Blue.
“It got pretty bad,” Thorne said on the beef.
She recounted the time the two teens finally turned the trajectory of their friendship around.
While on a live set, the girls snuck away to “hash out” their beef.
“We got into it... it was so beautiful,” Thorne said. “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.”
Thorne later faulted the media, and oftentimes, the fans, for how she and Zendaya were perceived to be against each other.
“Love you guys, but y’all be out there getting a little too crazy,” she said.
In a 2021 interview with Us Weekly, the Famous In Love actress admitted that she and Zendaya, now 29, took two seasons to build their close friendship.
Also in the episode, Thorne discussed being cheated on by her ex-fiancé, her childhood abuse, her depression, and even her 2019 explicit-photo scandal, where she leaked explicit photos of herself because she was allegedly threatened by an unknown number.
“If I’m going to lose my whole career and everything I’ve worked for... I’ll just do it,” Thorne said about the incident.
Shake It Up ran for three seasons from 2010 to 2013 on Disney Channel. Thorne was 13 for the show’s premiere.
Since then, she has appeared in several other films and shows such as You Get Me, Find Your Friends, and The DUFF.
