Bella Thorne says she was almost fired by Disney for wearing a bikini at age 14

Bella Thorne has spoken out about how she was criticised for wearing a bikini when she was a teenager.

The 25-year-old actor and OnlyFans creator sat down with Emily Ratajkowski for her High Low With EmRata podcast.

Thorne regaled listeners with tales of what it was like to start a career in Hollywood at only six years of age.

Perhaps the most grim of those tales involved how her body was sexualised and shamed as a young woman in the limelight.

"One time I almost got fired off the Disney Channel because I was 14, and I wore a two-piece on the beach," Thorne said.

"This stylist that I was hanging out with put this chain on me that’s, like, a body chain. I don’t know? I don’t care.

"There was a fan and they got a photo of me on the beach."

That photo would soon nearly end her entire career, even before she was old enough to have technically finished school.

"I almost got fired. It was all over the media, it was literally viral at that time," she told Ratajkowski.

"It was [like] ‘How dare this little girl do this? This is so disgusting'.'"

Luckily, she escaped the death knell and salvaged her life's work.

The now-musician and actor added that people within Disney were putting the big wigs 'under pressure' to show her the door.

"They were like, 'Hey, we’re getting a lot of heat for this. Everyone’s getting heat for this because you’re in a bikini on a beach, so she needs to make sure she goes out in boy shorts and a loose t-shirt next time she’s at the beach'."

Bella Thorne/The Tom Ward Show/YouTube

Of course they didn't, and she continued alongside Zendaya in the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up!.

Throne also recounted another run-in with an unnamed director who gave her some vile feedback.

"I had a director give me feedback once and I was 10," she said.

"And the casting director calls my agent and my agent calls my mom and they're like, 'So she's not moving forward because the director felt like she was flirting with him and it made him really uncomfortable.'"

After a long pause, Ratajkowski responded: "Oh my god, you were 10."

Disney was approached for comment.