Before They Were Famous: Bella Thorne
She was already famous. That is the first thing to say, because this story breaks this series' own rule in the best way.
When I photographed Bella Thorne in 2019, she had grown up on the Disney Channel and become an Instagram superstar with 22 million followers. Everybody knew her face. What nobody had quite seen yet was the person she was becoming once she stopped letting Disney decide who that was. I caught her mid-break — in a house she designed herself, shooting a commercial and shooting me right back.
The call
My friend Johnny, of the EDM group Hotel Lobby, had become friends with Bella in 2019. He asked if I wanted to shoot with her at her Sherman Oaks house. Of course I said yes. The job was a commercial for a lip plumper serum — on paper. In reality it became a tour of the most personal house I have ever shot in.
The Trippy Twins Funhouse
Bella's house is called the Trippy Twins Funhouse — it even has its own Instagram. It is 4,500 square feet, bought for $2 million in 2016, designed by Bella and her sister, with light-up stairs, a colorful mural, and a 12-foot unicorn statue.
In the living room sits a hand-painted rainbow coach with a T. rex behind it. Bella sleeps in a tipi — she wanted something weird, something that felt like a safe space. Her closet holds around 4,000 pieces of clothing and 600 pairs of shoes. She has 17 cats, with a cat castle in the pink room.
I walked through the hallway to the kitchen, where I met Bella and her manager. She was eating McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, and she offered me one. No entourage wall, no velvet rope — just a girl in her own funhouse, sharing her lunch.
The shoot
I set up the lights with Johnny, and Bella sat down in front of her dinosaur. I brought both of my cameras: the Leica M10 and the Hasselblad H6D.
When I started shooting her with the Hasselblad, she got curious — she had never seen one before. I told her it was a 100-megapixel medium format camera, probably the best on the market, then did what you do when a subject is curious: I showed her the camera and let her take some pictures with it.
So I shot her with my Leica while she shot me with the Hasselblad — there are funny pictures of us taking pictures of each other — and after that the whole shoot opened up. I shot her all over the house: colorful furniture, a plastic ball chair, the backyard. She grew up in the Disney mold, told what she could and could not do. Now she gets to do whatever she wants.
That is the before-and-after here. Not unknown to famous — molded to free. She was rebelling against her Disney heritage, directing, writing books, acting in her own projects, and the house was the proof. Her own line says it best: "Don't try to impress people. Always be yourself." Her book of poems, "Life of a Wannabe Mogul: Mental Disarray," chronicled that break in her own words. My assignment was a lip serum commercial; what I actually photographed was a person mid-escape from a brand she did not choose.
The takeaway for photographers
Here is the lesson Bella Thorne taught me: when your subject gets curious about your gear, hand it over.
I could have kept the Hasselblad to myself. Instead I let her shoot me with it, and she stopped performing for the camera and started playing with it. The pictures after that moment are looser and more honest, because she was a collaborator, not a subject.
On any portrait where the person in front of you feels guarded — a fashion photographer in Los Angeles session or otherwise — find the thing they are curious about and give it to them. Curiosity beats any direction shouted from behind the lens.
And if you are hiring a celebrity photographer in Los Angeles, ask how they handle a subject who wants to play. The ones who say yes get the pictures nobody else gets.
Frequently asked questions
Was Bella Thorne famous when David Christopher Lee photographed her? Yes, and this edition does not pretend otherwise: Disney Channel star, 22 million Instagram followers in 2019. The "before" here is before the world fully saw the post-Disney Bella — director, author, independent artist — breaking out of the mold she grew up in.
Where was the shoot? At her Sherman Oaks home, the Trippy Twins Funhouse, designed with her sister. A lip plumper serum commercial, shot around the house — colorful furniture, a plastic ball chair, the backyard.
What cameras did he use? A Leica M10 and a Hasselblad H6D, a 100-megapixel medium format camera. Bella had never seen a Hasselblad, so he let her use it — and she shot him while he shot her.
How do I book a shoot? Get in touch here. I have spent 27 years as a celebrity photographer in Los Angeles and New York, and every session gets the same standard.
About the author: David Christopher Lee is a Los Angeles celebrity photographer with 27 years of experience, shooting for GQ, Vogue, InStyle, People, and brands around the world.
Book a Shoot: Book your shoot. If you want pictures of who you actually are — not who a brand told you to be — that is what I do.