Former Disney star Bella Thorne wins Pornhub award for X-rated film 'Her & Him'

Former Disney star Bella Thorne received a belated birthday gift – a Pornhub Award.

Just days after celebrating her 22nd birthday, Thorne took home a Vision Award at the second annual PornHub Awards in Los Angeles on Friday for her directorial debut on the X-rated film "Her & Him."

"I am so grateful and honored to receive this award and be recognized for literally just doing what i love… creating beautiful visions of art," she wrote Tuesday on Instagram.

While accepting her award, Thorne revealed her new partnership with Pornhub to enhance the website's overall safety, improvements the actress said she's "so (expletive) excited" about.

"I’m so excited to announce I am working with Pornhub to implement a change in their flagging system algorithm to ensure safety for everyone and everyone in our community," she said during her acceptance speech.

More: Former Disney kid Bella Thorne is now a director – of porn film 'Her & Him'

The former child star, who shot to fame on the Disney Channel series "Shake It Up," joined the porn website's Visionaries Director's Series with "Her & Him," which was shown at Germany's Odenburg Film Festival in September.

Thorne's adult film tells the "Romeo and Juliet"-like story of star-crossed lovers, according to Pornhub vice president Corey Price. Their love is reckless and dangerous and "transcends time and space."

More: Bella Thorne recalls 'uncomfortable' on-set treatment, reveals what drives child stars 'crazy'

During a behind-the-scenes clip for the film, Thorne opened up about jumping into her directorial debut and her experience on set.

"The process of shooting was quite interesting because we had real-life (expletive) on set, which I have never shot before at all," she said during the promotional video in August. "So it was quite an interesting experience to have the first thing that I really fully directed have so much sex in it. It is quite a fun environment."

She continued: "If you think that porn is uncomfortable, I'm sorry that you are uncomfortable. But don't make other people feel uncomfortable for being OK with it, because at the end of the day, it is sex. It is something that the human body wants. … If you're scared of it, that's fine. To each their own. But don't tear somebody else down because they're confident with their sexuality."

Contributing: The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bella Thorne wins Pornhub award for X-rated film 'Her & Him'