Demi Lovato is the role model we need today. The 27-year-old singer is continuing to use her personal experience and vulnerability to help others feel less alone and to help educate the masses. In her latest effort to destigmatize addiction and mental health issues, in this case eating disorders, Lovato sat down with Ashley Graham for an episode of Graham’s podcast
A Pretty Big Deal and discussed the long and winding road to her current state in 2020. The 45-minute interview covered a wide range of difficult topics, starting with the bullying that led to Lovato being homeschooled, then delving into her
struggles with addiction and eating.Discussing how to support someone in recovery, Graham asked how to be a better ally. “The more time you spend with that person, the easier it gets. If you’re around somebody all the time that’s triggering to you and you tell them when it’s triggering, it’s just like practising. The more you spend time around them, the easier it gets and then you won’t feel like you’re walking on eggshells all the time,” said Lovato. “You get into a rhythm of things.”The interview also included many moments of levity, including Graham and Lovato’s discussion of the singer’s
2019 bikini photo that was celebrated by thousands because it was posted unedited. Lovato credits a close friend for being her ‘hype man’ when it comes to feeling good about her body and snapping the now famous pic. “I’ll feel so large at times or she’ll get me on an angle that I think is bad and she’s like, ‘Work! I’m dying’!”
Although the picture was taken during a joyful moment, Lovato’s decision to post it came out of a feeling of exhaustion and depletion over fighting her body. Lovato said she was gearing up to do another album that would normally require her to hit the gym and go on extreme diets in order to get on stage in a tight outfit and sing about feeling good about yourself. "I'm tired of running myself into the ground with workouts and extreme dieting," said Lovato. "I thought the past few years was recovery from an eating disorder when it actually was just completely falling into it. Maybe my symptoms weren’t as obvious as before, but it was definitely an eating issue.”"I think when you have certain people around you that are telling you certain things that you should look a certain way, it makes it harder," she continued. "I was in that situation, and I was just running myself into the ground. I honestly think that's kind of what led to everything happening over the past year was just me thinking I found recovery when I didn't, and then living this kind of lie and trying to tell the world I was happy with myself when I really wasn't."Lovato said with her
upcoming album, she’s made the decision to stop focusing on her appearance. “Someone needs to stand up for people who don’t naturally look that way. I had to work my ass off every day in the gym six days a week to maintain that figure and that led me only one way. I don’t want to go down that path again,” said Lovato, revealing that things got to the point where she was working out three times a day and taking business meetings at her gym. “I’m not willing to destroy my mental health to look a certain way.”[video_embed id='-1']RELATED: Demi Lovato has stopped dieting[/video_embed]Speaking of the pressure to look thin while growing up, Lovato said she wished she had someone tell her it was okay to not look like every model in the magazines. The singer does credit one celebrity with making her feel good about herself and that was Kelly Clarkson. “She’s so funny, she’s so down to earth. She’s everything I want in a role model. That’s what Kelly Clarkson is and she will always be that for me,” said Lovato, who also credits her 2018 duet partner Christian Aguilera as someone who owns their body with confidence.Lovato works a dietician as part of her recovery team, who suggested the singer focus on body acceptance rather than body positivity. That means showing gratitude for your body and thanking it rather than repeating a mantra of feeling beautiful, which is something that Lovato says is working for her. “I literally don’t know my weight and it’s the most free that I’ve ever felt in my whole life.”
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