Bella Thorne says Disney Channel pushed her and Zendaya to "beg for one spot" when they were 12 years old, despite casting them as best friends on screen.

Thorne made the remarks on the 5 August episode of the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, hosted by Alex Cooper (Yahoo Entertainment). She and Zendaya played CeCe Jones and Rocky Blue, best friends on the Disney Channel series "Shake It Up," which ran for three seasons and 75 episodes from 2010 to 2013 (Variety).

Thorne told Cooper that Disney forced the two young actresses to compete against each other for the same opportunities. They were 12 at the time. "We were supposed to be best friends who played best friends," Thorne said, describing a dynamic where the off-screen rivalry contradicted the bond audiences saw on television (Variety).

This is not the first time Thorne has spoken about the pressure. She told Us Weekly in 2021 that everyone pitting the two against each other "fed into our heads" and kept them from being friends during the show's first season (Variety).

The tension eventually reached a breaking point during a crossover episode with another Disney Channel show, "Good Luck Charlie." Thorne said she and Zendaya slipped away from the live taping to another set and had a private heart-to-heart. They "got into it, hashed it out," Thorne said. She called the conversation "beautiful" (OK! Magazine).

For viewers who grew up watching "Shake It Up," Thorne's account fills in a picture that was already partially public. The two young leads were presented as an inseparable duo on screen while, behind the cameras, the structure around them encouraged competition rather than camaraderie. Thorne was 13 when the show premiered; Zendaya was 14.

Neither Zendaya nor Disney Channel has responded publicly to Thorne's podcast remarks as of publication.