Bella Thorne and Zendaya played best friends on Shake It Up, but it took them a long time — and one honest conversation — to become friends in real life.
Appearing on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, August 5, Thorne recalled being pitted against Zendaya during the 2010 Disney sitcom and revealed how they eventually rose above it.
While she said they had “the best” chemistry when they first met, Thorne admitted things “got pretty bad” because people constantly tried to pit them against one another.
“It got to a point where when we were on our Good Luck Charlie crossover, we escaped to another set in the middle of livetaping — which is really ballsy, badass, and rebellious,” she joked, later clarifying that they “didn’t escape” but simply snuck away to “go talk.”
The actress described what followed as “one of the most genuine, girl-on-girl talks” she has ever had.
“We got into it, hashed it out, and it was so beautiful,” Thorne shared. “It was my first experience — woman to woman, girl to girl —where you actually can speak. 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. You can walk out of there seeing each other.”
Thorne and Zendaya played best friends CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue on Disney Channel’s Shake It Up, which aired from 2010 to 2013. At the time, they were only 12 years old.
2026-08-05 22:35:00
