Demi Lovato Says She Left Disney Channel Because Of Her Eating Disorder

Fans of Demi Lovato know that the former Disney Channel star has been through it in terms of mental health and body image issues. In the years since leaving her role as the titular character of the Disney Channel series “Sonny With A Chance” she has been outspoken about her struggles with eating disorders, mental health issues, and her use of drugs to cope.

Now, in a recent interview, the “Sorry Not Sorry” singer is speaking out about the origins of those mental health-related issues: Disney.

Speaking to Bustle in an interview, Lovato revealed that she made the decision to leave Disney Channel after realizing the entertainment industry “terrifyingly normalized” eating disorders.

In her latest interview with Bustle, Lovato explained that after checking out of rehab in 2010 she realized that entertainment institutions like Disney perpetuated eating disorders. Lovato said that she’d struggled with an eating disorder before she became famous but it wasn’t until she broke into the industry that she realized many others were struggling as well.

“I kind of looked around and had a moment where I was like, ‘Wow. This is so terrifyingly normalized,'” Lovato explained. She also recalled that spending time in rehab made her eager to address eating disorders. “I came out of [rehab] with the choice of talking about my struggles or my journey with the possibility of helping people or keeping my mouth shut and going back to Disney Channel. I was like that doesn’t feel authentic to me. So I chose to tell my story.”

Demi underlined in the interview that she aims to have a career that has “nothing to do” with her body.

In an interview earlier this year, Lovato spoke out about her eating disorder while on Ellen Degeneres claiming that her old management team “controlled” her diet. Instead of letting her enjoy a birthday cake each year, they gave her a “watermelon cake.” Later, Lovato took to Instagram to share that she was no longer “stressing myself with a strenuous workout schedule before 14 hour days, or depriving myself from a real birthday cake rather than opting for watermelon & whip cream with candles because I was terrified of REAL cake and was miserable on some crazy diet shit.” 

In her interview, Demi also shared that she’s also changing for the better when it comes to allowing herself to love herself.

“Before quarantine, it was very difficult for me to cry. I had programmed the thought into my head when I was 16 that I’m only going to cry if people pay me to,” Lovato explains. “I started doing all this work, allowing myself to feel the pains of all the losses that I’ve had or the adversities or traumas that I’ve faced. I think my ability to be vulnerable and be more intimate with people has really heightened.”