Bella Thorne speaks out about childhood sexual abuse

'Please today stand up for every soul mistreated,' actor writes in honour of the Time's Up movement

Bella Thorne has spoken out about physical and sexual abuse she suffered as a child.

The Disney star, who formerly starred in Shake It Up, penned an emotional Instagram post offering a personal perspective on the Time’s Up movement, which became central to this weekend’s Golden Globes after a widespread black dress protest.

“I was sexually abused and physically growing up from the day I can remember till I was 14... when I finally had the courage to lock my door at night and sit by it. All damn night,” she wrote.

“Waiting for someone to take advantage of my life again. Over and over I waited for it to stop and finally it did. But some of us aren’t as lucky to get out alive. Please today stand up for every soul mistreated.”

“I never knew what was right or wrong growing up... I didn’t know the person sneaking into my bedroom at night was a bad person,” she wrote on Twitter, with both posts incorporating the hashtag #TimesUp.

Thorne first discussed being abused a month ago, when responding to an accusation that her work with Disney had created some kind of trauma. “Yeah I was. So it wasn’t Disney,” she wrote.

Three hundred female Hollywood actors, directors, writers, producers, agents and executives – including Reese Witherspoon, Shonda Rhimes and Emma Stone – launched Time’s Up as an initiative to help fight sexual harassment in the workplace.

The new project includes a $13m (£9.6m) legal defence fund to help women in less privileged professions push back against sexual misconduct in the workplace and any consequences that may follow reporting it.

• If you have been affected by issues in this article, you can find help via the NHS. Rape Crisis offers specialist support for women and girls; and the The Survivors’ Trust supports people of any gender.