Demi Lovato Recalled ‘Traumatic’ Child Stardom

Growing up as a child star was not always as fun as it seemed, at least not for Demi Lovato.

The 31-year-old singer made her television debut on the popular children’s show Barney & Friends. On this show, she met her now-former Disney colleague Selena Gomez. Starring in the purple dinosaur’s show allowed her to pave her way into Disney, where she starred in the movie franchise Camp Rock at the age of 15.

As she released three films alongside her co-stars, the Jonas Brothers — formed by Joe, Nick, and Kevin Jonas— the “Heart Attack” singer became not only an actress but also took on another career, singing, requiring her to juggle multiple jobs during her teenage years. In addition to this, she starred in the Disney Channel TV series Sonny With a Chance. She now recalls these memories as “traumatic.” She shared with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, August 14: “I think I’d passed the threshold of what I could withstand emotionally and physically… And I didn’t realize that child stardom could be traumatic— and it isn’t traumatic for everyone, but for me, it was.”

During the late 2000s, when Disney Channel was at its peak with stars like Miley Cyrus, Raven Symone, and Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Demetria Devonne Lovato—her birth name—had already been introduced to drugs and alcohol. During these times, she was suffering in silence.

Demi shared during an interview with Today in 2022, “My mom didn’t think she’d have to lock up the opiates from her 13-year-old daughter, but I was already drinking at that point… I had been bullied [and] was looking for an escape. When my mom saw how many of the pills had disappeared and how fast they did, she took them away [and] locked them up.”

The “Here We Go Again” singer went on to tell The Hollywood Reporter that she feels bad, now looking back, about the way she mistreated some of the crew members on set, particularly in the wardrobe department, due to the “bad moods” she experienced during that time. “It’s easy to excuse that behavior because I was so young and in so much pain, but I’m really remorseful, and that’s a guilt that stays with you forever,” she said.