Disney star Bella Thorne recalls being pitted against Zendaya
Bella Thorne has reflected on her relationship with Zendaya, her former co-star.
Bella Thorne resented being pitted against Zendaya during her younger years.
The 28-year-old actress starred alongside Zendaya, 29, in Shake It Up, the hit Disney sitcom, between 2010 and 2013, and Bella has now opened up about her relationship with her co-star.
She said on the Call Her Daddy podcast: "I remember at the mix and matches, I think I liked her immediately.
"I think that our chemistry was the best and I remember thinking, ‘She’s so tall and I’m so short.’ Then when they put us together for the screen test, I was like, ‘Oh, OK, they like it.'"
Bella acknowledged having a different skillset to her co-star.
The actress explained: "I remember us having to do the dancing and the freestyle, and I was like, ‘She can dance and I’m not a dancer.’ As a child, my mom was like, ‘You’re gonna work on it.’
"For seven months, I took three dance classes a day and would do the auditions during the day and at night. I was like, ‘I’m gonna be able to do this.'"
Bella remembers feeling particularly frustrated when she was pitted against Zendaya.
She said: "People can’t [deal with] women [leading a show together]. … The patriarchy’s been doing it since the beginning of time. But you just go back and you’re like, ‘God damn, they were 12. What’s wrong with you? You’re an adult.'"
Bella acknowledges that her relationship with Zendaya soured at one stage.
The actress said: "We’re supposed to be best friends. They play best friends.
"It got pretty bad and then you have your families and you have the rest of the set and everything. It got to a point where when we were on our Good Luck Charlie crossover and we escaped to another set in the middle of live taping, which is really ballsy, bad*** and rebellious."
However, the former co-stars ultimately managed to resolve their differences.
She recalled: "Escaped is a funny word. We didn’t escape, but we snuck out. We knew that we had three scenes until we were up again and we were just like, ‘Let’s just go talk.’ And we did. And we escaped to another set that wasn’t being used on another soundstage and we’re hiding up there.
"Then they were looking for us. We stayed a little too long. They were looking for us for that next scene and we got into it, hashed it out and it was so beautiful."
