Bella Thorne Reveals She Was Sexually Abused As A Child, Tells Fans To ‘Stay Strong’ In Tearful #TimesUp Video
Bella Thorne admitted to being sexually abused throughout her childhood and urged those who had a similar experience to “stay strong” in a tearful video clip she created after receiving overwhelming support from her fans for her brave confession and support for the Time’s Up campaign.
In one of her most recent Instagram posts, the 20-year-old Disney alum confessed to being molested as a child and used it to show her support for the Time’s Up campaign.
“I was sexually abused and physically growing up from the day I can remember till I was 14,” she shared to her nearly 17 million Instagram followers.
“When I finally had the courage to lock my door at night and sit by it. All d**n 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.”
Bella Thorne then urged her fans to “stand up” for “every soul” that has been mistreated and added the hashtag #TimesUp.
After posting this, she received overwhelming support from her fans—some of whom shared their own experiences in sexual harassment.
“I was sexually abused but my brother and my uncle around the same time frame. Started when I was 4 ended when I was 14,” a fan wrote in the comments, sharing how the experience caused her to have PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
“I was sexually abused at the age of 14 by a 64-year-old man. It’s easy for me to come out about my story, but I know it’s not for others. You’re a gateway to more confessions and victim confidence, and I honestly can’t be more proud of you,” another chimed in.
After seeing how much her confession impacted her followers, Bella Thorne made a clip that shared on Twitter, thanking her fans and urging those with a similar plight to “stay strong.”
“On Twitter I’m reading about all the people sharing their sexual abuse stories with me, from mine, and I just wanna say, I’m really proud of all you guys,” she said.
#TruthHasAVoice STAY STONG GUYS, stay strong!! I believe you can do it, just please, dont give up, it'll get better, it'll stop , I promise you, just dont give up. @bellathorne pic.twitter.com/Z1BDFNlzx2
— focus on mel (@celebconfes) January 8, 2018
Based on the Twitter version of her post, The Baby Sitter actress had no idea she was being wronged and that the person who kept sneaking into her bedroom was bad.
I never knew what was right or wrong growing up..I didn't know the person sneaking into my bed room at night was a bad person. #timesup pic.twitter.com/PD6PY7LgcX
— BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) January 7, 2018
Based on the comments in Bella Thorne’s social media accounts, not everyone is convinced that she was a victim of sexual abuse — or at least, question the purpose of her confession– because of how she usually presents herself in public. Some even accused her of using the story to catch people’s attention.
However, many still came to her defense, calling out “victim-shamers” and explained that the very reason why men and women with a history of sexual abuse do not come forward with their story is because of naysayers like them.
Most of ppl judging her story based on how she wears, nd hw she posting her nude selfies. A girl doesn't need to perfect to have her story to be heard. Jst bcause she's wild doesn't mean tht her story is invalid or she's just seeking fr attention.
— sal (@nevermindnur) January 8, 2018
??? victims often act out as a measure of control, rebellion to take back some power. There's no handbook on how to work through abuse/pain
— dextweets (@dextweets1) January 8, 2018
Some even noted how even women tend to shame their “sisters” who bravely share such a traumatic experience when they should be rallying to back them up and show support in any way they can instead.
Bella Thorne started off as a child star in Disney’s Shake It Up starring alongside Zendaya from 2010 to 2013. However, she started to venture into more sexy roles, including Netflix’s horror comedy flick The Babysitter in 2017.
On top of that, she started to become more liberated when it comes to her choice of outfits and even decided to pose nude in a cover of a men’s magazine on the condition that her pictures won’t be edited to show what she really looked like and promote self-love.
