Bella Thorne talks directing and starring in controversial new video with adult film star: 'My perfect idea for a woman'

Raechal Shewfelt
·Editor, Yahoo Entertainment
·3 min read

Editor's note: The above video contains sexual content and profanity.

Bella Thorne, who was once best known for her work on the Disney Channel, has lately been in the headlines for her new video, Shake It.

Just after it was released on Feb. 22, the video, which features Thorne and adult film star Abella Danger dancing and rolling around on a bed together, was temporarily censored by YouTube because of "explicit content." It's since been returned to the site and has already garnered an impressive 1.9 million views.

Thorne directed the video, as well as starred in it, and she explains that Danger was an obvious choice for the role of her co-star.

"I wanted to use her for the video, because she's my… kind of my perfect idea for a woman," Thorne, who identifies as pansexual, tells Monét X Change in a new episode of The X Change Rate. "Every trait that she possesses, I'm like, yeah, I could date that girl. If they don't like her, don’t watch my music video and don't listen to my song and don't stream my s***, if you're gonna go talk s*** about this girl."

As Thorne saw it, she needed to keep good vibes on set.

"If we don't have fun while filming it, you will see that," Thorne says. "So it was so important that we had a loose set and that it was more just about me and Abella connecting and being like, 'Camera: roll, roll, roll, roll,' because we're already in a moment."

Throne's 23, so it's very different than the work she was doing just a few years ago on Disney's similarly named show Shake It Up, in which she co-starred with Zendaya. And Thorne acknowledges that breaking away from her Disney image was "very, very hard." She says people thought she was being sexy just to stir things up.

Bella Thorne appears on the Oct. 9, 2011 episode of
Bella Thorne appears on the Oct. 9, 2011 episode of Shake It Up. (Photo: Bruce Birmelin/© Disney Channel / Courtesy: Everett Collection)

Thorne also remembers that, while she once worried constantly about shattering the good girl image the world demands of female teen idols, especially those who work for Disney, she eventually just stopped worrying about it.

"When I turned 18, I was with my boyfriend Greg at the time and we had kissed in a Starbucks coffee shop, and someone got a photo of me doing it, and I… like, my heart, the anxiety, the pumping. I take her phone, I’m like, ‘I’ll take a photo with you. I just have to delete this photo. I’m so sorry. Like, if this gets out…,’ Thorne says, recalling that she quickly had a change of heart. "I remember looking at this photo, and I was like, ‘Have it. It’s fine. I’m fucking 18. I can do whatever the fuck I want now.’"

Five years later, what Thorne wants to do is make more music, and she has "so much more" of that in the works.

She's also set to star in another movie akin to her 2020 thriller Girl, for which she earned glowing reviews as the central character.

"I've been working my whole fucking life. It's time I get to do what I want creatively," she says. "Girl, people were really noticing, 'Wow. Bella Thorne's a good-a** actress. That girl can actually act.' And I'm like, 'Thank you!' So I know I just have to do more movies like this, that I love, and that are creatively for me."

— Video produced by Stacy Jackman

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Q1 2024 Intel Corp Earnings Call

    Q1 2024 Intel Corp Earnings Call

  • Katie Price warned she could be arrested for missing bankruptcy hearings

    The former glamour model was first declared bankrupt in 2019 over unpaid debts

  • Support for South Africa's ANC near 40% weeks before election, Ipsos poll shows

    Support for South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has fallen to just over 40%, an Ipsos opinion poll showed, weeks before a general election that could usher in the biggest political change since the end of the apartheid era. While the ANC is still on track to win the most votes on May 29, if it gets less than 50% support it would have to seek one or more coalition partners to govern the country, the first such alliance since the party swept to power under liberation hero Nelson Mandela 30 years ago.

  • ‘Magic in the air’: More than 3,100 fans show up for the return of the Lexington Legends

    After a short-lived rebrand as the Counter Clocks, the Lexington Legends opened their 2024 season on Thursday night.

  • The Challenges of Election Coverage Present Opportunities

    In an unprecedented year, the core of journalism remains the same

  • Baby girl delivered from dying mother's womb in Gaza dies

    Her mother was injured when an Israeli strike hit the family home in Rafah

  • European soccer leagues insist they have no plans for games in the US. A lawsuit could change that

    GENEVA (AP) — Leaders of top European soccer leagues say they have no plans to take games to the United States, though acknowledged that could change pending a lawsuit in Manhattan. FIFA has shifted its long-time policy of blocking domestic league games being played on the territory of another member federation by withdrawing this month from an antitrust suit filed by U.S. promoter Relevent Sports. The suit is also against the U.S. Soccer Federation. If league games could be organized abroad, Eu

  • Humza Yousaf is fighting for his political life – but here’s why you shouldn’t expect a snap election in Scotland

    Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has suddenly terminated the Bute House agreement, the pact between the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Greens, which ensured a majority for the Scottish…

  • Exxon's Guyana 'mega project' to fuel 'big growth': Strategist

    Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are trading lower on Friday as both companies revealed a dip in first quarter revenue compared to the same period last year. However, both companies beat Wall Street revenue expectations for the quarter. While some of the forecasts for these companies are mixed, upcoming projects have the potential to turn things around. Truist Managing Director of Energy Research Neal Dingmann joins The Morning Brief to give insight into the energy sector and what investors can expect from Exxon and Chevron moving forward. Dingmann explains that growth will be accelerated by two upcoming projects in particular: "They're going to have big growth...in Guyana and the Permian [Basin]. That's going to keep the remainder of their overall portfolio flat. Guyana is the one worth pointing out. If you look at the projects coming on through 2027 on a gross basis, which Exxon has 45% of this, that could do almost 1.2 billion barrels a day. You think that: the US alone is doing about 13 billion barrels. This is encroaching on over 10% of what the US alone could do with this project by 2027. That's why it's obviously a big deal on this litigation between Chevron and Exxon on the Hess deal. I cannot say enough about this Ghana project...It's a mega project to say the least. " For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief. This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino

  • Brazil women's star Marta to retire from international soccer

    Marta, who has been playing in the United States with Orlando Pride since 2017, hopes to make her sixth appearance at the Olympics.

  • Liverpool XI vs West Ham: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup and injury latest for Premier League

    Liverpool could make changes in forward areas

  • Dog Eats Chocolate Bar as Final Treat Before Being Put to Sleep

    A man gave his dying dog a chocolate bar – a treat dogs love but that is toxic to them – as a final gesture of love before she was put to sleep on April 23.Footage recorded by Miller Hurtado Toro shows his dog Sharon enjoying the tasty sweet before she was injected with euthanizing drugsToro told Storyful that Sharon was 12 years old and had been fighting the tick-borne canine disease ehrlichiosis for two years.“We tried to take her to find more treatments, but they saw that she had lung cancer, with metastases in her lungs and liver that were making her weak from just lying down,” Toro said.“The day before yesterday, she could not get up again, and that is when I made the decision,” he explained.Toro said he had often denied Sharon a taste of chocolate as the candy is notably bad for dogs’ health, but that he thought she should try it as her final treat.“No dog should leave without first trying chocolate,” Toro said. Credit: Miller Hurtado Toro via Storyful

  • What Professors Owe Our Students Right Now

    "If we are to reclaim our university, faculty and students must do it together," writes Barnard professor Nara Milanich.

  • Blinken says China helping fuel Russian threat to Ukraine

    The US Secretary of State was speaking to the BBC at the end of a three-day trip to China.

  • Challengers Ending: Breaking Down that Hug

    The hug makes it clear that two of the three characters are in love—and it’s not the pairing you might expect.

  • West Ham vs Liverpool: Prediction, kick-off time, TV, live stream, team news, h2h results, odds

    Both teams need fast improvement after damaging defeats

  • Chip Gear Vendor KLA Tops March-Quarter Views As Business Stabilizes

    Semiconductor equipment vendor KLA beat estimates for its fiscal Q3 and guided higher than views for the current quarter.

  • Supreme Court rules military judges sufficiently independent from chain of command

    OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada says the constitutional right of judicial independence is not compromised for soldiers appearing in front of military judges. Nine members of the Canadian Armed Forces argued that military judges may have divided loyalties, because they are also military officers who are part of a chain of command. Some of the military judges in those cases agreed that they lack judicial independence, because they could be vulnerable to pressure from higher ranks. But the mil

  • Coroner ‘prevented’ from delivering ruling on UVF deaths by Government challenge

    The inquest into the McKearney and Fox killings began last January after a lengthy campaign by the families.

  • First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old

    HALIFAX — A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student. Crown attorney Terry Nickerson told provincial youth court Judge Bronwyn Duffy that he will be seeking adult penalties for both of the accused. Their identities are protected from publication under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The victim, Ahmad Maher Al Marrach, was found badly in