‘Camp Rock’ Star Alyson Stoner Confronts Demi Lovato About Poor Treatment in Hulu’s ‘Child Star’: “My Heart Is Racing”

In the new Demi Lovato documentary on Hulu, Child Star , the current singer and former Disney star frankly speaks about—and apologizes for—her behavior on certain sets. That includes the set of Camp Rock 2 , the sequel to the wildly successful 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie, which launched Lovato to fame.

Co-directed by Lovato and Nicola Marsh, Child Star —which began streaming today—features Lovato sitting down to speak with other former child stars, like Lovato’s former Camp Rock c o-star, Alyson Stoner. The two actors reminisce about the first film fondly, laughing together about the musical’s more ridiculous moments. But when it comes to the film’s 2010 sequel—after Lovato had shot to stardom and launched her music career—the memories aren’t as pleasant.

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Lovato, now 32 recalls that during the first movie she had stayed at the same hotel as the rest of the cast. For the sequel, she was put up at a nicer hotel, while the rest of the cast stayed somewhere else.

“When the second movie came, it felt really validating, because I had been leveled up,” Lovato tells Stoner in their conversation. “But I was trading connection for success.”

“I remember that,” Stoner, 31, responds. “It felt so hard to access you, in that way. We had lost that thread of trust, we had lost that closeness. It didn’t seem, maybe, like you wanted to be reached, either, at that point. The last few years of working together felt really challenging.”

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“The treatment did feel drastically different,” Stoner goes on to say, choosing their words carefully. Then they look away with a nervous laugh. “My heart is racing. I do remember a sense of walking on eggshells. There was definitely a lot of fear of a blow up.”

Lovato listens to Stoner intently, and you can feel the tension in the room through the screen. To her credit, Lovato doesn’t push back on Stoner’s assertion. Instead, she offers a heartfelt apology.

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“I know that we were both going through our own stuff, but it still didn’t give me an excuse to treat anyone poorly,” Lovato says. “So I just want to genuinely, deeply apologize for any stress, or any walking on eggshells, any hurt feelings. I’m genuinely so sorry for that. I look back at that time with profound sadness. I’m like, ‘How many people did I treat poorly?'”

Lovato is open in the documentary about her eating disorder, drinking, and drug use during those years. She even bonds with fellow former child actor Christina Ricci about how they would hide their alcoholism on set. (Ricci tells Lovato, “I put my booze in Diet Coke can.” Lovato replies with a laugh, “I put it in a coffee cup!”) Lovato was forced into rehab by her team when she was 18, and in 2018 was rushed to the hospital due to an opioid overdose.

In a different scene in the film, Lovato also apologizes to fellow former Disney Channel star Raven-Symoné—who made a guest appearance on Lovato’s series , Sonny with a Chance —for “how difficult I was to work with, because I was in so much pain.”

“I meeeaaan… you weren’t the nicest person,” Raven replies. “But being the type of person I am, and that I’ve been in the industry for as long as you, I understand the glaze over the eyes. I didn’t hold it against you. I just was like, ‘Something’s going on there.'”

Child Star is now streaming on Hulu.

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