Bella Thorne Whoopi Goldberg feud: What did Whoopi say about the nude photo leak? How did Bella respond on Instagram?

Thorne's celebrity friends including Zendaya and Lottie Moss have weighed in
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Megan C. Hills20 June 2019

Earlier this week, actor Bella Thorne thwarted a hacker and released her own nude photographs on Twitter; taking “power back” before he could blackmail her further.

The move was praised on social media, however former actor Whoopi Goldberg recently said she “cannot be surprised” that this happened to her in a tense discussion on The View.

Since then Bella Thorne has branded Goldberg “sick and honestly disgusting” for her response and announced on Instagram stories that she would be cancelling her appearance on The View, as well as criticising Goldberg for the mindset she was promoting to a younger generation.

Celebrities including Zendaya, Lily Rose Depp and Lottie Moss have since come out in full support of Thorne, with the Spiderman: Far From Home Star going as far as to call her to “make sure [Thorne] was okay”. Thorne's ex-girlfriend Tana Mongeau also posted a message in support, which read "yo F**K @whoopigoldberg...i love you @bellathorne whoopi i feel so sorry for you to have that mindset."

(Getty Images )
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While Goldberg has yet to respond, there’s no doubt that the presenter will have to address Thorne’s comments on The View eventually. Before then, here’s how things got to this point.

Why did Bella Thorne’s nude photos get leaked?

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On Saturday, Thorne took to Twitter and posted a series of text screenshots and a statement via the Notes app. In her statement, she revealed that all of her belongings had been hacked the previous day and said that she had “been threatened with [her] own nudes” by an unnamed individual.

Thorne shared screenshots of a message chain, in which an individual (presumably her hacker) sent Thorne her own private nude photographs.

After Thorne refused to respond to the first one, they attempted to get her attention and messaged, “YO BELLA!!!”

Thorne later responded, “Feels so weird someone I don’t know looking at my personal s***”

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The person sent a barrage of nude pictures and videos of Thorne accompanied by the ominous message “Got all the videos”.

Thorne wrote in her statement, “I feel gross, I feel watched, I feel that someone has taken something from me that I only wanted one special person to see.”

Thorne also revealed that the individual had not only sent her images of herself, but also “multiple nude photos of other celebs”.

How did Bella Thorne respond to her hacker?

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In the same tweet, Thorne revealed that she had chosen to release the photos he was threatening with her to take power back from him.

Thorne wrote, “I’m putting this out because it’s MY DECISION NOW U DONT GET TO TAKE YET ANOTHER THING FROM ME. I can sleep tonight better knowing I took my power back. U can’t control my life u never will. Here’s the photos he’s been threatening me with, in other words here’s my boobies.”

Thorne, who is currently doing promotion for her upcoming poetry collection The Life of A Wannabe Mogul, also said in her tweet, “I’m gonna write about this in my next book”.

She also warned the individual that “the fbi will be at your house shortly, so watch. Your. Mother. F*****. Back.”

@bellathorne

Following her Saturday tweet, Thorne also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the situation the following day and revealed that she believed her hacker had made a mistake and that she didn’t want her hacker’s “whole life ruined”.

She said, “This kid sounds like he's 17, as much as I'm so angry and wanted to f*** him up over doing this to people I just wanted to teach him a lesson. He's still a kid and we make mistakes, this mistake is a bad one. But I don't want some 17-year-old's whole life ruined because he wasn't thinking straight and [was] being a dumb***.”

She added, “Plus, he's obviously smart so if he got on the right side of the tracks he could actually possibly help our community and be an alliance. You can't always tear someone down for their bad sides but more so build up their good sides.”

What did Whoopi Goldberg say about the nude photos on The View?

During a segment on The View, Goldberg (one of the show’s co-hosts) discussed Thorne’s decision to release her own photographs on social media. Although Goldberg was joined by three other co-hosts, she dominated the conversation as she criticised Thorne for being “surprised” that somebody had leaked her intimate photographs - stating that she shouldn’t have taken them in the first place.

As her colleague Sunny Hostin began to defend Thorne, Goldberg interrupted her, “If you’re famous, I don’t care how old you are - you don’t take nude pictures of yourself.”

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When Hostin tried to continue her train of thought, Goldberg spoke over her, “Listen, when they’re hacking you, they’re hacking all of your stuff. So whether it’s one picture or a million pictures, once you take that picture it goes into the Cloud and its available to any hacker who wants it.”

“If you don’t know that in 2019 that this is an issue, I’m sorry - your age does not - you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to do that,” Goldberg doubled down.

As her co-host Meghan McCain pointed out it was “very common for people to send nude photos” and that people had a “right to privacy”, Goldberg said, “You cannot be surprised that someone has hacked you, especially if you have [nude photographs] on your phone.”

How has Bella Thorne responded to Whoopi in her Instagram stories?

@bellathorne / Instagram

Shortly after the episode of The View aired, Thorne took to Instagram stories and posted a screenshot of an article titled “Whoopi Goldberg seemingly blames actress Bella Thorne for nude photo leak”. Underneath Goldberg’s face, Thorne wrote “SHAME ON U”.

Thorne also posted a screenshot of a Notes app statement, in which she penned an open letter to Goldberg. In it, she called Goldberg’s reaction “honestly awful”, “sick” and “disgusting”.

She wrote, “Dear whoopi, I have loved u for so long but honestly I’m so displeased and [saddened] by your response to my [nude photo leak]. Blaming girls for taking the photo in the first place? Is sick and honestly disgusting.”

Thorne continued, “I as a woman should be so scared walking around my home, being on my phone, doing anything? Is that what u want our women to be like? Scared of the masses for their sexuality?? Is that what u want? I don’t.”

@bellathorne / Instagram

She also referenced Jennifer Lawrence, who was one of the first victims to publicly speak out about the 2014 mass celebrity hacking crisis in which her own nude photographs were leaked. Lawrence said at the time to The Hollywood Reporter that it was “unbelievably violating” and continued that she felt “like I got g********d by the f*****g planet”.

Thorne said, “I am offended for Jennifer Lawrence who feels publicly raped. I am offended for every person who has committed suicide for someone leaking their nudes. Ur view on this matter is honestly awful and I hope u change ur mind set as u are on a show talking to young girls.”

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Following the Notes app statement, Thorne also shared a video of herself talking about the situation. In it, she revealed the pain that the blackmail and Goldberg’s ensuing comments had caused her.

Thorne said she hoped that Goldberg was “so f****** happy” as she cried on camera and said, “I feel pretty disgusting, Whoopi, knowing everyone’s seen my s***. And I just wanna say that watching this interview made me feel really bad about myself.”

@bellathorne

She continued, “I can only imagine all the kids who have their shit released and then they commit suicide...You’re so crazy for thinking such terrible things on such an awful situation.”

Thorne revealed that she had been slated to appear as a guest on The View and that she would be cancelling her interview, as she said, “I don’t really want to be beaten down by a bunch of older women for my body and my sexuality. I don’t really feel like that, so I’m gonna cancel my interview because I don’t really want you guys talking about your views to young girls because I would not want my daughter to learn that. And I would never say that to her.”

@bellathorne / Instagram

Thorne also rebutted Goldberg’s opinion and said, “Shame on you, Whoopi...Saying if you take a sexy photo then it basically deserves to get leaked like, ‘Don’t be surprised at all, don’t feel sorry for yourself.’ So, if I go out to a party drinking and I want to dance on the dance floor, do I deserve to be raped too? Because to me, I see those two things as really f*****g similar.”

Goldberg has yet to respond.

The Evening Standard has reached out to The View, Thorne and Goldberg for further comment.

Which celebrities have supported Bella Thorne?

Following the video, Thorne also shared a statement from her ex-girlfriend YouTuber Tana Mongeau which read, "yo F*** @whoopigoldberg. f**k slut shaming. f**k blaming girls for bad things that happen to them & inciting fear i love you @bellathorne whoopi i feel so sorry for you to have that mindset".

@bellathorne / Instagram

In a series of Instagram posts, Thorne screenshotted a number of celebrities who had sent her supportive private messages. She revealed that fellow Disney alum Zendaya had actually called her to “make sure I was ok” and she explained in an Instagram caption, “we talked a lot about this generation, the one before us as well, and how as women we shouldn’t feel bad about ourselves our bodies.”

Thorne also shared Zendaya’s empowering text to her and the Spiderman star wrote, “Just a reminder that you are strong and courageous and beautiful inside and out. You f**king broke my heart with that damn ig post but anyway, just being a f**king sap right now lmao just letting you know you’re a light and I’m super proud. Love you.”

(@bellathorne / Instagram)

Model Lily Rose Depp also sent Thorne a private DM on Instagram in response to her statement to Goldberg, writing, “Amen !!!!! Proud of you for what you did and how you’re speaking out about it. You’re absolutely right and anyone who’s saying otherwise is wrong, living in another century, and clearly completeley unconcerned by what repercussions words like that might have as it relates to young people and how they view their sexualities and bodies. Sending u love and I would’ve done the same thing.”

Lottie Moss also sent her love from across the pond, Instagram messaging her, “Don’t let these f**kers get you down you’re insane”

Disney star Dove Cameron also tweeted, “where is the support for young women. i love women. everyone should love women. don’t be an asshole! sexuality is part of being HUMAN. but judgment and objectification is not. ugh, i can’t handle to ugly. @WhoopiGoldberg please, be better. i don’t even have any kind words for you”

She also took to Instagram and reposted Thorne’s initial statement to Goldberg, captioning it “@whoopigoldberg , really not cute of you to infer that women who take sexual photos of themselves (which is perfectly fine and healthy and we need to de-stigmatize) deserve to have it leaked for the whole world to see when it’s intentions were intimate.”

(@bellathorne / Instagram)

“S**t shaming is OLD and you are out of line NOT what i would teach my daughter,” Cameron continued, “not progressive.”

YouTuber Logan Paul also told Thorne he was “thinking of her” and when challenged by the actor, he explained, “I saw your post about your nudes and felt empathetic, THEN I saw that post where you were talking about molested and paparazzi when you were young and even felt more EMPATHETIC and you’re a real bad b***h. Like you’re a f**king badass”

Other stars who lent their support included Teen Wolf’s Tyler Posey, Marilyn Manson and Lucy Hale.

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