It’s safe to say that Demi Lovato has been through a lot. The singer suffered from a scary overdose back in July 2018, before checking herself into rehab for three months — and that wasn’t the first time. The “Tell Me You Love Me” songstress has been pretty open about her struggles over the years, and has actually had to step away from the spotlight to focus on her mental health a few times throughout her career. But now, Demi is doing better than ever. The former Camp Rock star just made her first public appearance since the scary overdose, and she broke her silence on the incident.
“I’ve changed a lot. I’ve gone through a lot,” Demi said at the Teen Vogue Summit in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 2. “What I see in the mirror [is] someone that’s overcome a lot. I’ve been through a lot and I genuinely see a fighter. I don’t see a championship winner, but I see a fighter and someone who is going to continue to fight no matter what is thrown in their way.”
The 27-year-old explained that she wants people to focus more on her career, and less on her personal struggles.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that I’m actually an extremely sensitive person. I am human, so be easy on me. And I’m so tired of pretending like I’m not human. That’s one thing that I won’t do anymore. When you say stuff, it affects me. I’m human. I try not to look, but I see it,” she continued. “Genuinely I just want people to remember that I’m a singer. I think that a lot of the things I’ve been through kind of out shined my successes in the music industry or acting now. I just want people to remember that that’s what I want to give to the world so please focus on that and not the other things.”
The former Disney star, who suffered from bulimia and body dysmorphic disorder in the past, also revealed that she finally accepted her body.
“Whenever I was in the gym over the past couple years, I was doing it to a very unhealthy extreme. I think that’s what led me down a darker path, For me, embracing my body the way that it is naturally was the reason why I took the month of October off from the gym,” she added. “A huge thing for me has been body acceptance. I feel like something that is not really spoken about a lot is body acceptance. We hear the terms ‘body positivity’ all the time but to be honest, I don’t always feel positive about my body. Sometimes I look in the mirror and I’m like, ‘Oh I do not like what I see.’ But in those moments, I don’t sit there and dwell on it. I also don’t lie to myself. I used to look in the mirror and I used to be like, ‘I love my body. You’re beautifully and wonderfully made.’ But the thing was, I didn’t believe it so then I just would resent it. And every time I would say it, I would be like, ‘You’re lying to yourself.’ [Now,] I don’t have to lie to myself and tell myself that I have this amazing body. It’s like, if I don’t feel it, I don’t have to say that. All I have to say is I’m healthy. In that statement, I express gratitude and I express I am grateful for my strength.”
Although Demi said she “wouldn’t change the direction of [her] life for anything,” the actress admitted that being in the spotlight at such a young age was definitely hard for her.
“Of course when you’re 7 or 8 years old, and you say, ‘Do you want be an actress or a singer?’ You’re like, ‘Yeah put me on stage.’ And you aren’t even old enough to understand the consequences that come with fame,” she said. “And yes, fame is a privilege. It gets you a lot of things that you don’t normally get but there are downsides to it. It’s important to remember those downsides when you’re making that choice for the rest of your life, because once you’re famous you can’t not be famous anymore.… I wish I would have known that as a child.”
Get this — the brunette beauty also revealed that she’s got some new music on the way! Although she wouldn’t give an exact date, she shared at the event, “I have new music coming. It’s important to remember that I am so cautious this time around of jumping back into things. I’ve really decided to take my time with things, so when the time is right to release new music, I will put it out there.… I am dying to release new music.”
Her strength is seriously so inspiring!
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