The former Disney Channel stars “hashed it out” during a private conversation.

Bella Thorne details ‘genuine’ conversation with Zendaya after being pitted against each other on Shake It Up

The former Disney Channel stars “hashed it out” during a private conversation.

By Shelby Stivale

August 5, 2026 11:05 a.m. ET

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Bella Thorne; Zendaya. Credit:

Michael Buckner/Getty; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

- Bella Thorne reflected having a “genuine, girl-on-girl” talk with Zendaya during their *Shake It Up *days.

- The actresses felt pitted against each other during their early Disney Channel days.

- Thorne and Zendaya played CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue on *Shake It Up* from 2010 to 2013.

Bella Thorne and Zendaya were forced to have an intimate conversation about their relationship after feeling pitted against each other on the *Shake It Up *set.

“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,” Thorne recalled during her Aug. 5 appearance on the *Call Her Daddy** *podcast.

Zendaya as Rocky Blue and Bella Thorne CeCe Jones on ‘Shake It Up’.

Craig Sjodin/Disney Channel via Getty

The 28-year-old actress was quick to clarify that they “didn’t escape” but snuck off set in between scenes to “go talk.” What transpired was what Thorne referred to as “one of the most genuine, girl-on-girl talks” ever.

“We got into it, hashed it out, and it was so beautiful,” Thorne said. “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 starred as CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue, respectively, on Disney Channel’s *Shake It Up*, which aired for three seasons from 2010-2013.

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When they first met, Thorne knew she and Zendaya had “the best” chemistry. Things between them “got pretty bad” on set because of how people wanted them to compete. *Call Her Daddy *host Alex Cooper praised Thorne and Zendaya for being “adult enough” in their early teens to know that they needed to have a discussion.

“We’re supposed to be best friends,” Thorne said on Wednesday. “They play best friends.”

Thorne noted that it’s part of a bigger conversation how “people can’t” understand “women with women” — especially in a setting like they experienced. (Both Thorne and Zendaya have spoken candidly about overcoming their differences while working together.)

“The patriarchy’s been doing it for, obviously, since the beginning of time,” the *Midnight Sun** *actress added. “You just go back and you’re like, ‘God damn, they were 12. What’s wrong with you? You’re an adult.’”

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Thorne previously reflected on the *Shake It Up *set tension between her and Zendaya during a 2021 interview with *Us Weekly*.

“It’s like we said [in] a couple interviews when we were younger, how we explained how in the first season we weren’t friends and it took us those other two seasons of becoming so close,” Thorne said at the time. “[It was hard] not having someone pitted against you [before] and then all of a sudden, now everyone is pitting you against each other. That fed into our heads. It made us not [be] friends in that first season.”

Thorne said that she and Zendaya were “so young and so mature at such a young age” that they were able to have honest talks. “We were really able to put our cards out on the table and [understand] each other,” she said.

Watch Thorne’s full *Call Her Daddy *episode below.

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Source: “EW Celebrity”