 If I were to have kids and they came to me and said, mom, I want to be in the industry, I would have to say, please wait until you're 18. Give yourself a childhood. Denny Lovato is back on the road to recovery. People who aren't in the spotlight are still trying to figure themselves out. They're going to party, they're making mistakes, and it's like, if you're a 15-year-old and you're making mistakes, it's magnified. It's exhausting, but you have everybody behind you that just give you a hug and be like, hey, you can get through this. Name something in a kid's mouth, okay? 20 years in the spotlight, all while growing up and dealing with your mental health in the public eye. Countless tours, movies, shows, and albums, all being released by someone who hasn't even turned 18 yet. It's exhausting. You aren't just so busy. I was so miserable and like angry too because I felt like I was being overworked that I was. 18 years old and dating a 30-year-old. The story of Demi Lovato highlights the intense, mentally draining pressure that child Disney stars have to endure at such a young age. At a certain point, I was paying for the roof over my whole family's head. Adults constantly monitoring your life, where to go, how to eat, what to do. Everything in my life was controlled. All while you're paying for an entire team's salaries and providing for your family. It all sounds like an absolute nightmare. And Demi Lovato barely escaped the dark trap of Disney. And this is their story. Hi friends and family acquaintances, family? Hi friends and internet acquaintances. Welcome or welcome back to another video on my channel. And today's video is all about how Demi Lovato barely escaped Disney. Before getting into this video, I want to clarify that Demi Lovato goes by both they, them and she, her pronouns. So I will be using a mix of both in this video. Demitria Devon Lovato was born in 1992 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Diana De La Garza, an engineer and musician, Patrick Martin Lovato. But shortly after Demi's second birthday, her parents divorced. According to Demi, she had no interest in forging a relationship with her biological father, Patrick, after her parents divorced and her father eventually passed. Lovato has been vocal about her abusive and estranged relationship with her father. He passed away when I was 20. And at the time I was so conflicted because I had so many emotions around me. A part of me hated him, a part of me loved him, a part of me felt sorry for him. My father left my family and chose an alchemism over me. So I felt this hole in this abandonment that I still feel to this day sometimes. And it felt as if he chose that over us. Following their parents' divorce, Lovato moved to Dallas, Texas where she spent the remainder of her childhood. She began to play the piano at age seven and the guitar at age 10. And around age 10, she also began acting classes and industry executives were quick to notice Lovato. In 2002 at 10 years old, Demi landed her first acting role in the popular children's television series, Barney and Friends. Demi played the character Angela from 2004 to 2005 and the role led to other opportunities including parts in the television shows Just Jordan and Prison Break. Despite Demi Lovato's on-screen success, Demi's acting caused her to be bullied at school and in a desperate attempt to cope with being bullied, Lovato went through periods of self-media and anxiety. I literally didn't know why they were being so mean to me. And they would just say, well, you're fat. And then a few months later, I developed an eating disorder. And Lovato ended up in homeschooling to escape the toxic environment that was severely impacting her mental health. From a very young age, Demi Lovato dreamed of being a singer. In an interview with Ashley Grimm for an episode of her podcast, Pretty Big Deal, Lovato talked about how she landed her big break and revealed that she made a pact with God. It sounds ridiculous, but I kind of made a pact with God, she said. And I don't even think you're supposed to do that. But I promised if you make me a singer one day, I'm going to use my voice for so much more than singing. And I'm going to help people with it. And oddly enough, not long after Demi made her pact, she was approached by a woman at a Pentecostal church. And the woman supposedly prophesied over her. And the translation was, you're going to be a hero to thousands of people someday through art. She just looks at me and she says, are you ready? This woman, she prophesied over me. The translation was, you're gonna be a hero to thousands of people someday through art. And in my mind, I'm like, yeah, music. I know, I know, you're telling me this, but I already know it. She just looks at me and she goes, are you ready? Following the encounter, Demi started going out to more auditions. After flying back home from the auditions, Demi was at a Walgreens when she found a card that said, are you ready? With a Bible verse listed on the back. There's this business card, and it's just this black business card with yellow writing that says, are you ready? After Lovato found the card, she received a phone call letting her know she booked the auditions she tried out for. The lead role in Sunny with a Chance and a leading role in the film Camp Rock, the role that would launch her career in a big way. Camp Rock premiered on Disney Channel in the United States on June 20th, 2008 with 8.9 million viewers, being the second most viewed Disney Channel original movie at the time, only behind High School Musical 2. Camp Rock's soundtrack was released days prior in anticipation of the film. The soundtrack reached top 10 in six countries and peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200 and was later certified platinum by the RIIA. And Demi quickly became a huge star after the release of Camp Rock as much for her singing as for her acting. Yeah, no, my life has changed drastically, but for the better, you know, like I'm excited to be here. I didn't imagine myself being in front of the El Capitan like at a premiere where people are screaming my name in the middle of Hollywood. Like I never would have imagined that and you're right. And Demi is undoubtedly an extremely talented artist with a wide vocal range, even when she was just a young singer on Camp Rock. Demi Lovato's unique singing abilities and wide vocal range led to her signing with Hollywood Records that summer. Demi then began her Demi Live warm-up tour before the release of her debut studio album. And she also appeared on the Jonas Brothers Burnin' Up tour. I've been touring almost every day since June 1st. And the last concert is actually today, which I don't know in a day today, but it is like, is it the same? Such a good picker music, such a good, yeah. Which just seems like a lot happening all at once. Imagine within the same year that Demi Lovato had her big break. All of a sudden she was going on multiple tours and signing with Hollywood Records. It's a lot happening all at once. I was sleeping and like, I was just so, I was so miserable and like angry too because I felt like I was being overworked, which I was. You were still a minor, but being worked like an adult plus under so many different bosses. Lovato's debut studio album, Don't Forget, was released in September, 2008 and was met with generally positive reviews from critics. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and was eventually certified gold by the RIAA. I would say my sound is pop, but it's actually with I think more rocks than people will expect. And soon after, Demi Lovato was given her own show on Disney, Sunny with a Chance, which premiered on Disney Channel in 2009 and aired for two seasons. Initially renewed for a third season, this series entered uncertainty when Lovato underwent treatment for personal struggles in November of 2010 and was unable to continue filming for the show. Now, Teen Star Demi Lovato's rise to superstardom has taken a detour straight to a treatment center where she's dealing with a range of crippling emotional problems that today are landing her on the gossip pages and threatening her career. During Demi's time on Sunny with a Chance, Lovato released her second studio album Here We Go Again in July of 2009. The amount of work that Demi Lovato did in just two years, Camp Rock, multiple tours, two albums, the show Sunny with a Chance, Princess Protectors with Selena Gomez, it's just a really intense level of workload. We've seen time and time again when young stars are given this much workload, it leads to a breakdown because it's just too much for anyone to be able to handle and just a lot of pressure to put on someone at such a young age. Imagine being the star of a show and having tons of people in production who essentially have a job because of you and on top of that, providing for your own family. It's just a lot to put on a literal child. While simultaneously they're being worked back to back to back on new project after new project. And honestly, I think that Disney and Nickelodeon should be held accountable for the amount of work they put on their young child stars. It's just so obvious that this amount of work can lead to burnout and tons of other negative health effects. In September of 2010, Demi returned to her role as Mitchie in Camp Rock 2, The Final Jam. The film garnered 7.9 million viewers on its premiere night. The film's soundtrack, released a month before the film's premiere, debuted at number three on Billboard 200 albums chart. And the second Camp Rock film was Demi's final appearance on Disney Channel. In June of 2021, during a podcast with Drew Barrymore, Demi opened up about growing up as a child star. You're in these like adult jobs and yet you're not an adult. There's no manual on how to raise a child star after the parent says, you know, you're grounded for sneaking out at three in the morning, whatever. I retorted with, well, I pay the bills. What are you gonna do? Like, what are you gonna do to keep me grounded? In August of 2022, Demi opened up to Zane Lowe about how her early start at her career left her feeling like she had no identity. In your teens, people who aren't in the spotlight are still trying to figure themselves out. They're going to parties, they're- Making mistakes. Making mistakes. And it's like, if you're a 15-year-old and you're making mistakes, it's magnified. And Lovato told Lowe that she would think twice before allowing her kids to embark on the same journey. If I were to have kids, because I've thought about this too, if I were to have kids and they came to me and said, Mom, I want to be in the industry, I would have to say, like, please wait until you're 18. Like, give yourself a childhood. Yeah. Demi Lovato also appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast to promote her eighth studio album. On the podcast, Lovato claimed that she was on such an intense schedule during her time with Disney that she would call her mother in floods of tears due to exhaustion. I remember one day I woke up, I was so tired and like just drained from how much work I was doing. As a 16-year-old, I woke up and I just started crying. And my mom was like, what's wrong? And I was like, I'm so tired. And then she started crying too. She was like, me too. If I had a hiatus from my show, I would have the tour bus pull up to the studio and take me on tour for one week. Or I would fly to London to do promo. And so there was this extreme workload that I think put a lot of pressure on us. And that's why some of us turn to, I personally turn to, if you're gonna work me like an adult, I'm gonna party like an adult. It seems like Demi Lovato had so many intense pressures at such a young age that the way they coped with it was through partying. They already practically had the life and responsibilities of an adult. So it seems like Demi also fell entitled to party like an adult and live by their own rules because they were providing for all of these adults that were supposed to protect and take care of Demi. Instead though, Demi was protecting and taking care of everyone else, which is not what a child is supposed to do. At a certain point, I was paying for the roof over my whole family's head. And my dad had quit his job to become my manager. So his income was coming from me. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. And there was just that pressure of, I'm paying for everything and like, I need to keep going because if things start to disappear, so does the finances. Technically at 16, you are the thing that's making all the money for all the people around you. And if you stop, it all ends. And also at a certain point, I was paying for the roof over my whole family's head. It was just that pressure of like, I'm paying for everything. And like, I need to keep going because if things start to disappear, so does the finances. Which is not what a 16 year old should be worrying about at all. So no wonder Demi Lovato started to escape through partying. And on top of all of that, Demi Lovato had to maintain the perfect Disney image because children were watching Disney shows, child stars have to appear like role models that those children can look up to. There were expectations on you to be a role model because all of a sudden you're thrust into that position whether you want to be or not. These young stars, especially during whatever call the Disney era of like 2004 to 2014, practically created an entire industry around their stardom. Disney and the agents and managers associated with Disney stars created this machine out of the Disney stars where they would have them star in movies and shows and then funnel them into music careers and tours so that off of this one star, tons of different avenues for revenue were created, which also created more jobs for the adults around them and more money for the adults around them. So it became the adults vested interest to monitor the child stars life to make sure they're living an on brand lifestyle and continually working and providing for their entire team. So the child ends up having so many pressures and a jam packed schedule and yet with all the power they have, they end up having virtually no control over their personal lives and their schedule and no space to grow and mature and find themselves in their own independence. It's a system that I think is so ripe for exploitation and it's clear from Demi's statements that she was overworked, taken advantage of and exploited at this time to continue fueling the industry created off of her image and her Disney brand. But Demi has also spoken publicly about during her time on Disney and how she was exploited in an even darker way. What do you think has been the biggest change in you from two years ago? I've become more aware of just life and people in the way that the business works and it's definitely for the better. I think that I'm able to protect myself a little more. Which involved her experience of losing her rugby. I lost my rugby in a group. According to Demi, she hooked up with someone she was working with on Disney's Camp Rock and he did not listen to her when she said no and when she tried to stop escalating things. We were hooking up, but I said, hey, this is not going any further. I'm a friend and I don't want to lose it this way. And that didn't matter to them. They did it anyways. And I internalized it and I told myself it was my fault. And this was during a time when Disney stars were publicly wearing their purity rings and talking about how they were wanting to wait till marriage, which I'm sure all contributed to more feelings of guilt and shame which Demi should have never had in the first place. Here is the thing. I was a part of that Disney crowd that publicly said they were waiting till marriage. I didn't have the romantic first time with anybody. That was not it for me and that sucked. And then I had to see this person all the time. You know what? Eff it. She said during her four part documentary series Dancing with the Devil, I'm just going to say it. My me too story is me telling somebody that someone did this to me and they never got in trouble for it. They never got taken out of the movie they were in. On call her daddy, the star took time to clear up rumors about her abuser. She told Cooper to be clear, like it wasn't anyone in the immediate Disney circle. To be clear, like it wasn't anyone in the immediate Disney circle, you know, like it. I've had people ask, you know, questions of like, was it this person or was it that person? It was like, I don't think it'd be anybody that anyone would guess, but they were friends with someone on set and they'd come around. Lovato admitted that while they're still working through the trauma, they believed that time can heal wounds, just not all of them. The more time that has gone by, the easier it's gotten, but there's still a deep sadness inside of me that someone took that from me at such a young age. And it was hard because this person was also around. They were also on Disney and so seeing them around was difficult and it really messed up my teenage years. Demi feels like young stars don't get to experience childhood or life as a teenager because they're constantly under a microscope. I'm sure Demi and a lot of childhood stars feel like if they don't live up to this picture perfect image that someone else will come in and take their place or they'll let down all of their fans who look up to them as a role model, which is a lot of intense pressure and stress. People ask me this too, like what would you say to your younger self? And I would, I would say, you're beautiful. You don't need to lose weight. You don't need to judge yourself so hard. I couldn't have been able to comprehend those words at that time anyways. I just was in a position where everything I did was under a microscope and so finding myself was under a microscope as well. On top of that, they feel like they always need to be doing something next so they continue keeping up with their fame and providing for their family. I'll always look at child stardom at what I went through as something traumatic for me. No child should ever be in the limelight. It's too much pressure. There's an absence of childhood that you never get to experience and it makes things confusing because you develop problems from that experience. Whether it's addiction or trust issues or financial stress, it follows you into adulthood. And when Demi Lovato finally turned 18 and became an adult, she says that little changed because it sounds like the team around her was so toxic and focused on continuing to control Demi Lovato's life. Even though Demi Lovato was legally an adult, their management became increasingly controlling. They wanted to keep me like a kid, not making decisions for myself, having a say in everything that I did down to everything that I ate, what I wore. The experiences that Demi Lovato had as a child actor makes me sick to my stomach. Children should not have to go through those feelings of immense pressure or trust issues because everyone around you wants something from you. It truly is a tragic story that no one should have to endure. Not only was Demi Lovato dealing with the pressures of stardom at this time, but Demi Lovato was also dealing with, well, predatory people in the industry, even in her personal relationships. A big example of this is the relationship that Demi talks about in her song, 29. Numbers told you not to, but that didn't stop you. Now I'm finally 29. Funny, just like you were at the time. What do you hope people take away from these lyrics? If you're a young girl and you think that it's, see your fun to date older men, it's not okay. Demi Lovato alludes to her 12 year age gap with ex Wilmer Valderrama, sorry if I said that wrong, on her song, 29. When I first met Wilmer, he was 29. I met him on January 11th of 2010 and it was at a PSA shoot at his house for the 2010 census forums. To be honest, I only did it because I heard it was at his house and I thought he was really cute. Lovato said in her 2017 documentary, Simply Complicated. Before 1980, Latinos weren't even considered a separate ethnic group on the census forum. This is an opportunity for us to assert ourselves, to define ourselves. To be honest, I only did it because I heard it was at his house and I thought he was really cute. I didn't really care about the census forums, but when I met him and I laid eyes on him for the first time, I was in hair and makeup and he came and sat down and I was like, I love this man and I have to have him. I've never loved anybody like I loved Wilmer and like I still love Wilmer. When I first met Wilmer, he was 29. But I was only 17, so he was like, get away from me. After I turned 18, we began dating. I think it was love at first sight and I don't really believe in that, but I believe that it happened. Wilmer and Demi dated on and off for six years before pulling the plug on their relationship in 2016. After almost six loving and wonderful years together, we have decided to end our relationship. This was an incredibly difficult decision for both of us, but we have realized more than anything that we are better as best friends. We'll always be supportive of one another. Thank you to everyone who has offered us kindness and support over the years with only love, Wilmer and Demi. But after some time, Demi's perspective on the entire relationship seemed to change drastically in 2022 and she seemingly addressed her age gap relationship with Wilmer on her track 29, a song off her eighth studio album, Holy F. Finally 29, funny, just like you were at the time, her lyrics read, thought it was a teenage dream, just a fantasy, but was it yours or was it mine? The musician also appears to take aim at Wilmer's current relationship with Amanda Pacheco, who's also 12 years younger than the actor. She sings, I see you're quite the collector. Yeah, you're 12 years her elder. Maybe now it doesn't matter, but I know effing better. Speaking to Zane Lowe on his Apple Music One show to coincide with the singles release, she said she put things into perspective after a recent vacation when she turned 29, but she was hesitant to go into more details on the track because the song says it all. You know, I'm very careful with the way that I answer these questions because I feel like the song says it all. I don't have to say too much to be honest, but turning 29 was a huge eye-opener for me. Which if you listen to the song, it really does say it all and I highly recommend listening to it if you haven't already. I would be lying if I said I didn't have a ton of anxiety about putting up this song. I just said, I have to go for this. I have to own my truth. But throughout Demi's entire career and personal life, while she was being exploited the entire time, she was also going through severe mental health problems. The next two chapters in this video will probably be heavily censored because of the heavy subject matter. I wanna issue a trigger warning because these chapters deal with addiction and mental health and EDs. But even though it will be heavily censored, I'll try my best to make it also as easy to understand as possible. Demi Lovato's mental health issues began fairly early in her childhood and a lot of her struggles with mental illness and addiction can be attributed to her father, Patrick, who struggled with addiction and alcoholism. According to Lovato's sister, Dallas, her father would rage and yell and throw things and Demi saw that. She's always been a star. My little daughter, I knew her when she was growing up and ever since she was a little baby child, she always had that insight. Later in Demi's childhood, they gradually formed an eating disorder. In Demi's documentary, Dancing with the Devil, Demi discussed how competing in beauty pageants at a young age caused her to focus on her image, which resulted in self-esteem issues. I was put in beauty pageants where it's extremely competitive and it's all about your looks and your talent. My self-esteem was just completely damaged from those beauty pageants. I'm gonna go on the record here and say like beauty pageants are awful for children's self-esteem and like they teach you to ignore your emotions until you go to your hotel room and that's when you can cry it out. It was this toxic environment of like who's more beautiful and things like that and at such a young age it confuses you. Demi said about her developing ED, it was always there but then I just acted on it at around eight or nine years old. I started overeating compulsively overeating. I went from doing that to being unhappy with my body and it was just this crazy battle going on inside of me and at only 13, Demi Lovato started experimenting with drugs after being prescribed for injuries she sustained in a car accident. So I started experimenting for the first time when I was 12. I got into, or 13, I got into a car accident and they prescribed me oats and my mom didn't think that she'd have to like lock up the oats from her 13 year old daughter but like I was already drinking at that point. I was, you know, had been bullied, was looking for an escape. And for the next few years, Demi was still using in secret. Demi's mom, Diana, told Access Hollywood about this time, I suspected she was using. It's like any other parent when you see things, when you see signs you don't want to believe, that's what is actually going on. So when they're telling you that's not what is going on, you want too badly to believe them. And I think for a long time I was in denial. In 2009, at 17 years old, Demi also started experimenting with cocaine while working for the Disney Channel. Lovato's birth father, Patrick, was an alcoholic, an addict. And Lovato says she always searched for what he found in drugs and alcohol since he chose those substances over his own family. My father left my family and chose an alcoholism over me. So I felt this hole in this abandonment that I still feel to this day sometimes. And it felt as if he chose that over us. And so I knew that there was something glamorous or fulfilling about alcohol. And for a while, Demi was able to live this sort of double life trying to maintain her picture perfect image on Disney Channel, dealing with all the pressures and stress of that while simultaneously partying behind the scenes and living a sort of darker life. But in 2010, everything came crashing down and her secret was finally out to the public. The 18-year-old was on the international leg of her tour when she made the decision to check into a treatment facility. Well, the news has her fans wondering exactly what's wrong and how long she'll be out of the spotlight. In 2010, the Jonas Brothers were scheduled to undergo their seventh concert tour to promote their fourth studio album and the soundtrack to their Disney Channel show, Jonas. The tour later incorporated several special guests, including Lovato and their friends and various co-stars from the Camp Rock franchise. The tour officially began in August of 2010. However, at the end of the tour, Demi had to step away after an incident where she got physical with one of her background dancers. I was in Columbia. I was in the Camp Rock 2 tour. And I invited a bunch of people to dinner. My band and my background dancers. I paid for all the... Somebody ended up getting... I was on Adderall. And one of Demi's backup dancers revealed to the management that Demi was secretly using Adderall. And Demi's management finding out sent her over the edge. I think they told on me for using Adderall. Somebody told Kevin Jonas Sr. and my manager Phil and my stepdad. I was very upset. I couldn't believe that it happened. Now it was out that I was on Adderall. And the next day Demi was determined to figure out who ratted her out. I was in a lot of trouble. I remember going to Kevin Sr. and saying, listen, I just wanna thank whoever told on me because I know they were just worried about me. And you know, I just really want to know who told you. She ended up convincing Kevin Sr. to tell her that the person who told on her was Alex Welch, better known as Shorty. And Demi became angry since she had grown close to Alex Welch during the Camp Rock movie and tours. I remember thinking, I'm about to beat this B word up. Shorty and I had been really close through Camp Rock and Camp Rock too. So when he said Shorty, I remember thinking, I'm about to beat this up. And that's what led to the punch that changed everything for Demi's career and reputation. I remember I was up in the front of the plane. She had already boarded the plane. Demi walks up onto the plane and I heard some commotion. I just went up to her and it was like a blur. I turned around and Demi had punched her backup dancer in the face. Welch had a black eye and bruised cheek but luckily no permanent damage. Following the incident in early November, news sources reported that Demi had sought professional help. I take 100% for responsibility. The second I kind of came out of my mania and realized what I had done, I felt sick. Demi's family and management team held an intervention. They sat me down and said, you can't live like this. Like, you need to get help. And that's exactly what I did. She quit the tour and went to Timberline Nulls, a residential treatment center for women battling addictions. A representative told People magazine, Demi has decided to take personal responsibility for her actions and seek help. She is doing just that. Demi and her family ask that the media please respect their privacy during this difficult time. She regrets not being able to finish her tour but is looking forward to getting back to work in the near future. In the following weeks, rumors spread and the true nature of what happened was revealed to the public. And Alex Welch eventually spoke to People. To this day, I haven't gotten an apology. I've heard nothing. That's sad if you think that person is your friend. But later that year, Welch said that her and Demi came to an agreement. Nick Jonas was also there when Demi punched the dancer and told Billboard in a 2016 interview that the Jonas brothers thought they were going to get sued. I mean, it was bad. On top of losing a friend, we have seven dates left. It's a big production. People are expecting to see Demi and that's not going to happen. I was angry because a week before I pleaded with her to confide in me. We talked on the plane for two hours. Lovato did not remember that conversation. Even though it's sad that this incident happened, it was also the moment Demi needed to address their issues and stop living a double life. While it was definitely not smooth sailing for Demi after she checked into a treatment facility, it set her long road to recovery in motion. In January of 2011, Demi completed inpatient treatment at Timberline Knolls and returned home. Despite publicly claiming to be sober, Demi later revealed that the treatment she received in Timberline Knolls in 2010 did not last very long. Once out, Lovato stated, I wasn't working on my program. I wasn't ready to get sober. I was sneaking it on planes, sneaking it in bathrooms, sneaking it throughout the night, nobody knew. And then in 2011, at just 19 years old, Demi hit rock bottom. I was going to the airport and I had a sprite bottle just filled with vodka and it was just nine in the morning and I was throwing up in the car. And this was just to get on a plane to go back to LA to the sober living house that I was staying at. I had all the help in the world, but I didn't want it. I think at 19 years old, I had a moment where I was like, oh my God, that is out, like, behavior. It's no longer I'm young and rebellious and out having fun. It was, wow, I'm one of those people. I got to get my shiz together. That following year in 2012, MTV aired a documentary titled, Demi Lovato, Stay Strong, which was about her rehab and recovery. And she began working on her fourth studio album shortly after. Even though Lovato talked about being in recovery during the Stay Strong documentary, she later revealed that she was under the influence while doing the interviews for this documentary. When I first started in the industry, I was with Disney Channel. Everyone kind of just made me a role model. And I hated that. In January of 2013, TMZ reported that Demi Lovato had been living in a sober living facility for over a year, because she felt it was the best way to avoid returning to her different and ED. Fast forward to March of 2017, and Lovato celebrated the five year anniversary of her sobriety. So grateful, it's been quite the journey. So many ups and downs. So many times I wanted to relapse, but sat on my hands and begged God to relieve the obsession. In October of 2017, Demi uploaded a YouTube documentary called Demi Lovato Simply Complicated, in which she talked about her sobriety, but said she still struggles with her ED. Food is still the biggest challenge in my life, and it controls. I don't wanna give it the power to say that it controls my every thought, but it's something that I'm constantly thinking about. The same month the documentary was released, Demi Lovato posted a side by side of herself at the time and several years ago when she was struggling with her addiction. Recovery is possible, she captioned it. Lovato then celebrated six years of sobriety in March of 2018, tweeting, just officially turned six years sober. So grateful for another year of joy, health and happiness. It is possible, but unfortunately, sometime in mid-2018, Demi Lovato relapsed in a big way. Demi Lovato is now receiving inpatient therapy at a rehab facility after being released from Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles over the weekend. Lovato was rushed to the hospital July 24th after suffering an apparent OCO sat her Hollywood home. I crossed a line that I had never crossed in the world of addiction. Lovato fell out with her personal development coach, Mike Bayer. Reports claimed that her decision to fire Mike raised concerns among her friends and family members and was reportedly sparked by the stars partying ways getting more and more wilder in recent months. A source told The Sun Online, she and Mike started having arguments back in March. He felt like she was always making excuses for herself, her bad behavior and not telling him the truth about what she was up to. He called her out on her shiz, which she did not appreciate. The falling out also coincided with the release of Demi's track, Sober, in which she seemed to hint that she had fallen off the wagon after six years of sobriety. Then on July 24th, 2018, a month after Demi released Sober, she was rushed to the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after emergency services were called to her home due to an opioid overdose. Doctor said I had like five to 10 more minutes left. If no one had come in when they did, I wouldn't be here today. The singer was then reported to be stable and recovering later in that day. But Lovato also had multiple health complications stemming from the overdose, including multiple strokes, a heart attack and brain damage, the latter of which has caused lasting vision problems. She was hospitalized for two weeks and subsequently entered an inpatient rehab facility. And Demi's drug overdose led to widespread media coverage at the time, with her becoming the most Googled person of 2018. Demi addressed the entire incident during a 2020 appearance on The Ellen Show, saying that her worsening struggles with bulimia led to her relapse. Demi attributed these struggles to the extreme measures that her then manager, Phil McIntyre, took to control the food she ingested. Over the years, it progressively got worse and worse with people checking my orders at Starbucks where all my bank statements, like just little things like that led me to being really, really unhappy. Lovato further explained that, along with the controlling nature of her management team, they did not provide her with the help she needed. I asked for help and I didn't receive the help that I needed. So her thought process was, I'm six years sober and I'm miserable. I'm even more miserable than I was when I was drinking. Why am I sober? And so I was stuck in this unhappy position and here I am sober and I'm thinking to myself, I'm six years sober but I'm miserable. I'm even more miserable than I was when I was drinking. And when Demi confronted her management about these thoughts, they responded with, you're being very selfish. This would ruin things for not just you but for us as well. I sent a message out and I reached out to the people that were on my team and they responded with like, you're being very selfish. This would ruin things for not just you but for us as well. Which again, just goes back to that feeling of immense pressure that these stars are dealing with providing and helping the careers of so many people. According to Demi, this statement made her feel completely abandoned, triggering her underlying abandonment issues with her birth father. And so she drank that night. In 2021, Demi Lovato uploaded a four-part documentary series titled Demi Lovato Dancing with the Devil, covering a range of topics including her near-faith overdose in 2018. Demi also revealed that she was being assaulted by her drug dealer that night. In a disturbing interview with TMZ a month after her overdose, Brandon Johnson, Demi's dealer, claimed they had a sexual relationship. It is a flirty friendship, but nothing more. It kind of grew into some more of a sexual friendship if you've seen me, but you know, we would just hang out. So it grew into a sexual relationship? Somewhat, yes. But Demi Lovato detailed a different version in her docu-series. She was discovered naked and blue that morning. And when she came to, the doctors asked her if she had consensual sex the night before. But all she remembered was her dealer on top of her. And she since realized that she was in no state to consent to sex with anyone. I was literally left for after he took advantage of me. It actually wasn't until maybe a month after my overdose that I realized, hey, you were in any state of mind to make a consensual decision. That kind of trauma doesn't go away overnight. And it doesn't go away in the first few months of rehab either. You know, that's something that sticks with you for a while after. The fourth and final episode of the docu-series focused on Demi Lovato's rehabilitation. Demi Lovato talked about how quarantine was beneficial for her mental health because she was given time to focus on developing healthy life patterns like meditation. If you think about it, 2020 was probably the first time since the start of Demi Lovato's career where she's actually had a decent amount of time to herself. Before that, it was constant albums and tours and movies and productions and shows. In the documentary, Lovato also describes herself as California sober. I've learned that it doesn't work for me to say I'm never gonna do this again. Recovery isn't a one size fits all solution. Basically saying she still does some things in moderation, but her friends, family, and team had much different opinions on her not being entirely sober. Elle and John even had an appearance in the docu-series saying, moderation doesn't work, sorry. Moderation doesn't work. It's all right. You either do it or you don't. Following her, Demi Lovato bought a new home, signed with new management and started meditating. This is like my little routine. I come out here and I tone my chakras and I meditate. For her ED, Demi found balance in legalizing food, the concept similar to the idea of intuitive eating, just getting rid of the shame associated with eating and dieting and just trying to listen to your body and what your body needs. And by November of 2021, Demi Lovato decided to change from California sober to sober sober. She entered treatment announcing the following month on her Instagram stories. I no longer support my California sober ways. I've had my ups and downs with sobriety, but sober is the only way for me to be. In the wake of Demi Lovato's new album, Holy F, she's spoken openly about the exploitation that led to her overdose in 2018. In the Call Her Daddy interview, Lovato accused her former team of controlling her life completely. I was under the control for from 18 to 25. And those are years where you're trying to figure out your adulthood. You know, you're no longer a teenager, but for some reason I had people controlling everything I ate. You know, my business decisions were always being made for me. The team that was around me was dictating my decisions and trying to influence the direction that I was going. I didn't know who I was and I had a team that was trying to force me into a direction to be this hyper feminine pop star and I was so unhappy doing that. At the time, Demi was assigned a sober companion to help her with her substance abuse, which the singer said was helpful for her, but should not have lasted three years. It was known that Lovato had an ED, but she claims that her team at the time became controlling around her food to keep her looking thin, something she detailed in her song, Melon Cake. According to Demi, this led to the return of their blood from 2016 to 2018. The control over her eating became so extreme. Her team would clear any dressing room or hotel room of food, even going as far as to take away the phone in the hotel room to prevent her from calling room service. They didn't let me have phones in my hotel rooms because they didn't want me to call room service. I didn't have food in my hotel room, like snacks in the mini bar because they didn't want me to eat the snacks. Lovato alleged that in one instance, after admitting to her team that she'd been perched, she was barricaded in a room without food. They had built, they like barricaded me into my hotel room. They put furniture outside of my door so that I couldn't get out and sneak out and eat. And Demi Lovato said that this level of control went on for years, which sounds like absolute torture. Demi also said there was a brainwashing element that kept the controlling sober companion in her life. I was totally under the impression that if I don't listen to this person who knows so much about recovery, I'm going to lose everything. According to Lovato in 2017, she asked this person for help after throwing up blood. One time I said, I'm throwing up blood. I need to go to treatment. I need to get help. And this was in like 2017. And this person looked at me and said, you're not sick enough. And I think that was his way of saying like, no, you're not going back to treatment because if you do, this will look bad on me. And so I didn't, I didn't go back into treatment. And a year later, Demi Lovato overdosed something she says might've been her way of getting this person out of her life. I felt trapped. I felt like I couldn't get out of this situation. And my way of like blowing everything up was relaxing. Demi Lovato said she learned a lot from that experience, adding that no one could control her anymore. Now I found my voice. No one can ever do that to me again. And I feel empowered by what I went through because I had to grow and I had to learn to accept that I'm my own boss. Demi Lovato hired Scooter Braun. Demi Lovato hired Scooter Braun as their manager in 2019. She didn't need a manager. She needed a friend. She needed someone who knew what to do but also didn't need her to work. In 2021, Lovato came out as non-binary and changed their pronouns to they-them. But recently, on the Spout podcast, they say that they've been feeling more feminine and adopted their former pronouns. Lovato now uses both they and she pronouns according to her Instagram account. She also said she identifies as both queer and pansexual. In January of 2022, a month after her most recent stint in rehab, Demi Lovato drove the final stake into the heart of her child star past. At her home studio, Lovato posed for a photo with representatives from her record label who were all dressed in black, a funeral for my pop music. She captioned the image on Instagram. And Lovato's new EP, Holy F, is a different style than the pop music that she's done in the past with more of a hard rock edge and the songs are really deep and introspective, dealing with her psyche as a superstar in recovery. Not just from drugs and alcohol, but also from this sexual and spiritual repression that had long eaten away at her sense of self. You can't have light without dark. The dichotomy was really important to me and I had to take my anger out of the shadows in order to heal. I'm owning my dark side and it doesn't have to take me down. There's the dichotomy in the album, which is cool because the title plays on that too. Holy and- Correct. You know, there's so much dichotomy on this album and this is exactly what I'm talking about. Given that Demi Lovato has released three separate documentaries deeply detailing her personal life and mental health struggles, she's said recently that she's practicing the art of being a more private person. I've reached a point where I'm tired of spoon feeding myself to the media about my journey with sobriety. This is where I'm at. This is where I went for a month. These are my pronouns and this is who I am. Eff it. I'm putting myself out there and that's what people should appreciate. And the ones that don't can eff off. I'm tired of explaining myself. I'm so tired. With all due respect, I'm not going to answer questions that I don't want you to know. And I think that's an empowering place to be when I've shared everything with everyone my whole life. Everyone has their own mess. I just happen to be really public about mine because my life has been under a microscope since I was a teenager. There's a mess in everyone's closet, but if you can take your mess out of the closet and start to piece yourself back together, that's growth. And recently Demi Lovato went on the Holy F tour but the singer announced in a since deleted social media post that this tour would be her last. I'm so effing sick. I can't get out of bed. I can't do this anymore. This next tour will be my last. I love and thank you guys. Tours always just seemed like a nightmare to me personally. It's basically just a way for a label to make more money off of someone just through over exhausting them with constant performances to massive crowds. A team depending on you and constant travel. My social anxiety could never in a bajillion years handle that. And I honestly don't know how anyone could handle that. But Demi Lovato's life hasn't just been filled with tragedy and in recent years has been filled with a lot of controversy. So I thought I'd briefly mention some of the controversy that Demi Lovato has been involved in since I know if I don't bring it up you guys will call me out for it in the comments section for sure. In 2021 Demi announced that they were officially an ambassador for the website Gaia which is known to be a giant hub for conspiracy theories. In a recent social media post in which Demi Lovato shares the loading screen for Gaia while smiling they write, I'm thrilled to be an at we are Gaia ambassador understanding the world around us the known and the unknown is so exciting to me. Then Demi makes a controversial statements on aliens. I think that we have to stop calling them aliens because aliens is a derogatory term for anything. That's why I like to call them ETs. The comment drew backlash from critics who pointed out that the word is only derogatory when it's used to refer to undocumented immigrants. Lovato's choice to defend actual aliens or ETs just showed their ignorance to the plight of immigrants. On top of that in April of 2021 Demi posted to Instagram stories about an experience she had at the Big Chill a small business frozen yogurt store. Finding it extremely hard to order fro-yo from at the Big Chill when you have to walk past tons of sugar-free cookies and other diet foods before you get to the counter. Do better please, she wrote on Instagram. She also included the hashtag diet culture vultures. The frozen yogurt shop quickly responded on its Instagram account saying, we carry items for diabetics, celiac disease, vegan and of course have many indulgent items as well. Demi also shared an image from the Big Chill's Instagram account showing the phrase, eat me guilt-free. This screams diet culture and I won't be gaslit by the media or anyone else that says otherwise. Demi added, I don't need to feel guilt-free about anything. This was what I was talking about and is directly from their own page. Following these posts, Demi received an immense load of backlash with not many people agreeing with Demi Lovato's decision to put the shop on blast. Real Housewives of New York City star Lea McSweeney said on Instagram stories, Demi Lovato should be ashamed of herself for using her platform of 102 million people following her on Instagram to drag a frozen yogurt spot because she's mad that they sell diet frozen yogurt and sugar-free options because that triggers her. Therefore, they should just be harassed and go out of business. What the F, the ultimate privilege is to just use your platform with millions of millions of people to drag an effing business with 6,000 followers on Instagram who have been doing their thing since the 80s and others believe that Lovato's criticisms ignored the needs of people with diabetes and other health issues who might not be able to eat sugar-free desserts. Personally, after looking at Demi's story and lifelong battles with EDs, I can see how this yogurt shop would upset Demi since this is something she intensely struggles with. But I think recently a lot of people are adopting the phrase, your triggers are not my responsibility as a sort of mantra for setting boundaries. Of course, it's important to acknowledge and understand someone's triggers, especially if they stem from intense trauma. But it's also not a yogurt shop's responsibility to monitor Demi Lovato's triggers. And to a certain point, it's up to the individual to take responsibility of and monitor their own triggers. These recent controversies have seemingly led a lot of fans to distance themselves from Demi Lovato. But Demi Lovato is continuing to work on her artistic projects and find her own balance with her mental health and recovery. Demi Lovato is one of the many stars who barely escaped Disney after numerous controversies and issues with growing up in the spotlight. The future for Demi is unknown and it's my personal perspective that Demi shouldn't be held up as a role model for sobriety because that kind of pressure is a lot for anyone to handle and could probably just lead Demi right back into the cycle of feeling like they have to be picture perfect. Instead, the story of Demi should be a cautionary tale and this story leaves me feeling upset at the adults involved in Demi Lovato's life who exploited them for years and controlled their life all for monetary gain. And so that's all for the story on how Demi Lovato barely escaped Disney. Thank you so much for watching if you made it all the way to the end and if you did comment what you were doing while watching this video. I know a lot of people do things like laundry, dishes, chores or work while watching my content and I'm always interested to know what you were doing while watching this video. And thank you so much for watching. I hope you're doing well and I'll see you in the next video. Have a good one until then. Bye. Nugs. Peter Piper picked a pepper. I cannot talk today.