Bella Poarch’s rise to fame has taken the internet by storm.
And while she’s been making headlines lately there’s still more to Bella’s story than
meets the eye.
Let’s get into it!
Bella Poarch’s rapid rise to fame all started back in 2020 when she shared a simple video
of herself lip-syncing to TikTok.
Less than a month later it became the most liked video on TikTok ever with 36 million
likes and 145 million views and counting.
But long before she grew to 79 million TikTok followers, 13 million instagram fans, a Billboard
charting hit, and set records for content creation, she had a completely different life.
Before we go further, I wanted to issue a quick trigger warning, that we will be covering
heavy topics including abuse and sexual assault, so please only continue watching if you feel
comfortable doing so.
Although Bella has had tons of success in the US, Bella was actually born and raised
in the Philippines and didn’t move to the United States until she was a teenager.
Unfortunately, according to Bella, her childhood in the Philippines was an extremely traumatic
and tumultuous time.
She got candid about the abuse she received from her adoptive stepfather on The H3 Podcast
during an interview, sharing that she would be quote, “slapped” if her stepfather
got angry adding, “My nickname was stupid b**ch growing up.”
She went on to share the horrific details of that time adding, “It was very hard.
I had to wake up at 4 am every morning.
I had to finish all my chores.
I would be sweeping the yard and picking up animal s**t.”
She added “I would have to clean up really good because if I didn’t, my stepdad would
get really mad at me and be like, ‘you’re not eating breakfast if you don’t get this
done.’”
Bella also shared that since her adoptive father wouldn’t allow her to shower before
school, she dealt with incessant bullying and now suffers from PTSD.
However she tries to channel that harrowing experience into being a better person.
She went on to share, quote, “I have PTSD.
But I don’t go around and hurt people, and take advantage.”
Speaking of using past hardships as an artistic
outlet, fans may also be surprised to know that Bella’s music video for her song “Inferno”
was actually inspired by her experience with sexual assault.
In the video Bella is spiked and dragged to
an elevator but then she gains magical powers and fights her assailant.
Before the music video, Bella issued a trigger
warning on YouTube sharing quote,
"As a victim of sexual assault, this song and video mean a lot to me.
It’s very hard for me to talk about.
I decided to express myself by creating a song and video with Sub Urban based on how
I wished my experience went.
It’s a fantasy I wish was true."
Another interesting fact about Bella is that
she actually served in the US Navy.
She enlisted back in 2015 and spent three years in service.
She’s proud of the time she spent in the
Navy and even talked about her experience with Vogue.
She told the mag quote, “The Navy taught me one thing: that you can’t do everything
on your own—you have to have a great family of people around you to trust and achieve
great things.”
She also shared her reason for initially joining the Navy with Vogue, sharing quote,
“I wanted to be free.
I wanted to be independent.
As weird as it sounds, the Navy allowed me to feel that way.”
Bella has gotten in hot water in the past
regarding her tattoos, which Bella has since addressed, as well as the reason she has so
much ink.
Last September she apologized to fans for
getting a tattoo of the Japanese rising sun flag, which was considered offensive to South
Koreans because of its representation of Japanese imperialism.
She’s since had the tattoo covered up.
However, when one fan asked about her tattoos sharing quote, “Why do you have so many
tattoos?
They don’t fit you.”
Bella responded with a video, captioning the
post quote, "I had a rough childhood.
My scars from abuse made me insecure.
And so I had to cover up my scars with tattoos."
In the video she zooms into her arm sleeve,
a tattoo of a rabbit and wings on her back.
And although Bella spends a ton of time posting
photos and videos of herself, one thing followers may not know is that she used to be super
insecure about her looks.
She told Vogue, quote, “Sometimes I catch
myself comparing myself to others, but then I take a step back and remind myself that
being yourself is the best thing.”
She added, “While I do try to look my best
on TikTok, one of the things I've learned to get comfortable with is embracing my flaws.”
She also told the magazine that she used to
worry about taking photos with fans, sharing quote, “I went through this really weird
phase where I would be uncomfortable taking pictures with fans when I didn’t have my
makeup ready and I would later see those pictures online.”
She added “But then I realized that I’m
supposed to look like that.
That’s how I look and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Take the filters away and I’m still happy being me.”
Now that Bella’s music career is taking
off we’re sure there will be more facts to share in the future, and we promise to
keep you posted!
For more on Bella, you can click right over
here to watch another Clevver video.
I wanted to do that thing with my eyes that she does butI can’t do it!
Then be sure to let me know, what were you surprised to learn about Bella in the comments
section below.
I’m your host Sussan Mourad, you can find me on socials @Sussan_Mourad, see you guys
next time!