Demi Lovato graced the cover of American Way magazine's July issue and gave a glimpse of the things she had been through. The 23-year-old star opened up her life as a child, her battle with bulimia and drug abuse as she is now an advocate for mental health awareness.
According to People, Lovato experienced body image problems since time immemorial. In fact, she grew up suffering from self-insecurities as she saw her mother in misery with an eating disorder.
"It's hard not to grow up like that," the American singer told American Way. However, although she felt anxious about her body, she started joining beauty contests at the age of 7 which, unfortunately, made things worse.
"My body-image awareness started way before that, but I do attribute a little of my insecurities to being onstage and judged for my beauty," Lovato explained.
She sought binge eating at the age of 9 and hurting her arms at age 12 as she compared herself to the skinny models in magazines. When Lovato was growing up and developing to be a woman, she noticed that her body was getting bigger that made her too frustrated.
In spite of this, the "Let it Go" hitmaker started her own career, became a child star for Barney & Friends and is now a great artist, Billboard reported.
But, as she began playing Mitchie Torres in Camp Rock at the age of 15, her insecurities developed and she sought to do drugs. When she had her own program, Sonny with a Chance, and went on a tour with the Jonas Brothers, she bore the responsibility for her whole family and felt the heavy weight on her shoulders.
The Camp Rock star tried to cure her problems with by drinking alcohol, taking cocaine and OxyContin, a synthetic analgesic drug like morphine. By then, she admitted that she lived a fast life and expected that she "was going to die young."
She didn't even think that she would reach the age of 21. As she felt sober, she tried to enter a rehab in Midwest and got a brief medication for her bipolar disorder and bulimia.
Unfortunately, Lovato went back to her bad habits as she felt that her "other issues got worse" when she started eating right again. She then decided to live at a West Hollywood sober house for a year and became an activist to help young girls with self-image problems and raise awareness for mental health.
