Lovato’s journey in life and in their career has been full of ups and downs but the most powerful aspect is their openness and representation.

You may know Demi Lovato for their incredible vocals, from the Disney Channel Show Sunny With A Chance, or just as a Millennial icon from the 2010s.

What you might not know about them is the difficult journey that leads them to this place: open and embracing their identity and at the peak of their creative career.

Lovato struggled with their mental health in the public eye, all while growing up on TV and in the entertainment industry. No matter who you are, the issues they faced were difficult, doing it while the whole world is watching is the next level.

In their documentary, Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated, they detail the early events in their career which lead up to their hit album Tell Me You Love Me in 2019. Since the release of the record, so much has changed for Lovato from heartbreak to more self-discoveries and coming into their identity, which brought on the 2021 docuseries Dancing With The Devil to further share their journey in struggling with mental health and substance abuse.

The Rise To Fame

Lovato always loved singing and acting as a child. They grew up with their mom, stepdad and sister in Texas. As a child, they already took on roles such as Barney & Friends, but the small parts lead up to their big break with Disney Channel.

In the same year, Lovato got the lead role in Camp Rock and their own series, Sunny With A Chance. The release of both productions at the same time turned their world upside down and suddenly they were in the public eye.

Behind the scenes, Lovato was meeting celebrities like The Jonas Brothers and fellow Disney stars Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus. What Lovato wasn’t sharing with the world was their struggle with mental illness and how as their fame grew, so did the anxiety which ultimately lead to substance abuse.

In Lovato’s documentary 2017 documentary, they discuss issues in putting themselves first and seeking love from others. The partners that Lovato had were relationships where they lost themselves and put the other person first.

This led to failed relationships and internalizing their own struggle with self-love. Lovato has spoken about this time period as wishing they had known how to put themselves first in their own journey.

Thus, the album Tell Me You Love Me was born, a declaration of empowerment in their identity and sexuality which brought huge success. Unfortunately, followed by an all-time low.

Lovato’s Journey With Self-Love

Lovato’s 2021 docuseries Dancing With The Devil consists of interviews with Lovato and their closest friends and family leading up to one of the worst moments in their life: the 2018 overdose for which Lovato still lives with the health consequences.

The documentary series has been acclaimed as a true telling of a person dealing with substance abuse, the pain, ups and downs and how it affects a community.

The overdose caused multiple strokes and heart attacks, for which today Lovato still has blind spots in their vision and difficulties with concentration and reading. They said that the hardest parts of coming back from the overdose were not necessarily the health effects, but the work they needed to do to discover themselves and learn to love their journey.

Folks who struggle with bipolar disorder are more likely to abuse substances due to the nature of their illness, according to mental health professionals, it is not a sentence but an important aspect to better understand this unique perspective. For this reason, Lovato has always wanted to be open about their experiences.

The openness for which Lovato has always had about their life reflects their advocacy, they want other people going through what they go through not to feel alone. That includes Lovato’s visibility in talking about bipolar disorder, substance abuse and coming into their pansexual and non-binary identities.

Coming Out As A Queer Icon

Amongst the chaos and struggles that Lovato has faced, there have also been some wonderful discoveries a well. In 2021, Lovato announced that they are non-binary and officially changed their pronouns to them/them.

This was an important announcement to Lovato for creating visibility for the community and continuing to use their platform to help others not feel alone. Lovato has struggled in many ways with their mental health, but one way they can take control of their life is being who they are: pansexual and non-binary.

As Lovato continues to work on their health and build advocacy around substance abuse, bipolar disorder and the Queer community, one thing is for sure: there is no stopping them.

Despite hardship, Lovato has a big career ahead of them and continues to inspire folks who are on their own journies.