Bella Thorne Gets Candid About Being Slut-Shamed for Her Clothing and Lifestyle Choices (Exclusive)
Bella Thorne is opening up about her struggles with being judged and shamed, and how she’s managed to emotionally move past the hate and negativity.
The 20-year-old actress recently sat down with ET’s Katie Krause at a press junket promoting her new film Midnight Sun, alongside co-star Patrick Schwarzenegger, and she got candid about the misconceptions people have about her.
“I think the most hurtful [thing is] when people look at you and they’re like, ‘Oh, [you’re] dressing a certain way. You have to be covered up or else you’re a slut of some sort,’ or whatever they want to call you. Whatever demeaning term they think fits you best,” Thorne explained.
In January, Thorne added her voice to the growing Time’s Up movement when she took to Instagram to reveal that she’d been the victim of sexual abuse as a child.
According to the actress, her own experiences as a sexual abuse survivor mean some of the misconceptions about her are “taken a little bit more to heart.”
“If someone says, like, ‘Why do you dress that way? Is it because something that happened when you were younger?’ And you’re like, ‘Oh, maybe it actually is. Hmm, that’s a good point.’ You know, it’s like kind of those small moments where you’re like ‘Oof, I wish that didn’t dig as deep as it did,'” Thorne shared.
The actress also opened up about her boyfriend, musician Mod Sun, and how he’s helped her regain some of her self-confidence and guided her through a few dark periods in life.
Thorne explained that she was first attracted to Sun because of his positive energy.
“Meeting someone that’s just so happy, you know that’s kind of his whole thing, and for me [as] someone who’s a little bit glass half empty, it really is nice for me to have someone on my back that’s like, ‘No, it’s good, it’s good, it’s good,’ even when it’s bad,” she reflected. “You’re always your harshest critic.”
While she admits that her mood can fluctuate on a day-to-day basis, Thorne said that her happy relationship has “changed so much of my mindset.”
“When I see me going toward the negative I’m like ,’Bella, go toward the positive,” she added.
Last Thursday, Thorne stepped out on the red carpetat the premiere of Midnight Sun, and she opened up to ET about her plans to launch her own beauty line.
“It’s all organic, which is cool. We have a lot of acne-infused products,” she said while at the premiere. “Of course, it is makeup, but one of the main things for me is to actually take care of your skin.”
She also opened up about how her role in the romantic drama — in which she plays a girl who cannot go out in the sun due to extreme life-threatening photosensitivity — has affected her own outlook on life.
“I like to complain about silly things and then I’ll look at myself and I’ll be like, ‘Bella, come on! Who are you kidding? You’re so lucky, my goodness,'” she said. Check out the video below to hear more.