Rise to Fame
Her father died when she was a child, and her family in Pembroke Pines needed money, so she started modeling and acting before she was old enough to understand the industry she was entering. The breakthrough came with Shake It Up, the Disney Channel dance show she co-starred in with Zendaya from 2010 to 2013. She played CeCe Jones, a dancer with dyslexia. So did Thorne. The writers reportedly figured it out mid-production and wrote it into the character.
In the Spotlight
In August 2020, she joined OnlyFans and earned over $1 million in her first 24 hours, a platform record. Then she charged $200 for photos she advertised as naked that turned out to be lingerie. Subscribers filed chargebacks, OnlyFans responded by slashing creator earnings caps platform-wide, and sex workers who depended on the platform blamed her publicly. She apologized and said it was film research. Whether you believe that depends on what you think she was researching.
Side Notes
She learned to read using acting scripts because school didn't work for her. She published her first YA novel at 17 and a poetry collection in her early twenties. A kid who couldn't read in first grade, writing books before she's 30, is a more interesting story than anything she did on screen.