Ever since 2008 when Camp Rock came out, I have been an avid fan of Demi Lovato. I never missed an episode of Sonny with a Chance or any other appearance she made. I owned all of her music. I remember being so upset when my dad wouldn’t take me to the store to buy ‘Unbroken’ the day it came out because he was tired from work. I bawled like a baby both times I saw her in concert because I was just so moved by the way she sang (I still cry if I even watch a video of her singing Skyscraper).
She was always someone I looked up to because she always seemed so happy and upbeat. Unbeknownst to us, her fans, she was struggling deeply with her own mental and physical health. The pressure put on her by her overnight fame caused a domino effect of things she struggled with, and unfortunately, she had to keep the deeply hidden away from the public eye.
When she punched her dancer while on tour, I was greatly taken aback. Like everyone else, I had no idea she was dealing with anything so bad that it would make her lash out like that. I remember feeling so sad when she checked into rehab; how could she have been struggling in silence? I couldn’t grasp how she managed to hide everything so well. I kept up with her journey, hoping that she would get better. I was so moved that she took what happened to her and used it as a platform to help others.
Not long after Demi returned to the public eye after treatment, she did a special with MTV to talk about what she had been through. I remember curling up on my couch and crying so hard as she talked about everything and being so moved by the fact that she was sober. However, in her new special, ‘Simply Complicated’, she admits that she was secretly doing cocaine while that was being filmed. I was shocked. She spoke at length about how she manipulated her friends and family while she was going on benders regularly.
She talked about having gone through roughly 20 sober partners and how when she was a judge on ‘The X Factor’ in 2012, when we all thought she was back on top, she was living in a sober house. She admitted how manipulative she was to all the people around her. She talked about how her rocky relationship with her father deeply affected her life. It was heartbreaking to hear her talk about the plethora of things that led her to her breaking point, but I was still insanely inspired by her.
I have long admired Demi for her strength, and hearing her be so open and so candid about her life makes it easier for us to be open and candid about our own lives. If Demi Lovato, who is so blatantly in the public eye, can get help and be real about her issues, then we can too.