If you’re a millennial who spent a decent amount of time watching Disney Channel as a child, there’s no way you don’t know Demi Lovato. A music/television staple, Lovato got her breakthrough role in Disney Channel’s Camp Rock, which made her and her powerhouse voice a household name. As a kid, I obsessed over her music and whatever new show or movie she might have been in, loved her style and hair, followed her career and respected her image.
When the news broke that Lovato was going into rehab the first time, it hit me as a surprise. Although she was not what I would call my idol or the number one celebrity I looked up to at that point in my life, I loved her a lot and was sad for her once I found out the details of her problems. I could not fathom how someone who comes across so flawlessly on camera could have such dark demons in her closet. But, is that not always how these things pan out?
When Lovato’s documentary Simply Complicated released on Youtube in October, it gave me an even more in-depth look of who she was as a person at the time when her Disney fame was at it’s highest. As someone who was very good at acting both on screen and off, she put up a facade while using drugs and struggling with an eating disorder — one that got her far, but many people saw through. Manipulative and manic, Lovato’s problems with her physical and mental health eventually went so far and got so bad that her career almost ended. But, with the help of some people who really cared about her and rehabilitation, she was finally able to overcome addiction and remains sober to this day.
What I liked about Lovato’s documentary was that she was totally real with the viewers about her past. There was no sugar-coating her problems or passing it off as one mistake. She was honest about her years of drug abuse, past of lying and scheming, and abundance of mistakes. Lovato opened up about how she is still dealing with her eating disorders and that she is in a constant state of battle with her body, which is something I feel makes her even more relatable to fans who have the same problem.
Lovato’s career now, in my opinion, is at the highest it’s ever been. Now, maybe statistics do not prove this, and maybe by number she was bigger in her Disney days, but her presence is larger than life right now. Her voice is still strong and unmistakable, her newfound confidence is evident in whatever she does, and her comfort with herself is astonishing given everything she has been through, especially at the age of twenty-five.
Personally, I feel that recognizing, addressing, and dealing with her demons has made her music one hundred times better. She takes risks and is rewarded as she still sells out concerts and puts out albums that get into the top five positions on the charts. Her edgy, true-to-self music makes Lovato even more vulnerable, which to die-hard fans like myself, makes the music a cut above anything she has ever done.
Lovato is the ultimate inspiration when it comes to perseverance. Even though she had to go to rehab twice and overcome addictions, her persistence got her to where she is now and has given her recent success. If she had succumbed to her addictions, she might be a pop culture sob story rather than an icon. My favorite part of her documentary is when she proclaims to be “on a journey to see what it’s like to be free of all demons”. I feel like this unique phrasing of a constant internal battle is one that everyone can relate to, because a) who likes to have demons? and b) everyone wants to be free of their troubles, regrets, and insecurities. She doesn’t pretend to a have a perfect life, but she does preach self-love, self-care, dignity and self-worth. And that is truly what inspiration is all about.
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