Demi Lovato is continuing to use her struggles with an eating disorder and substance abuse issues to reduce the stigma around the topics and help others feel empowered to get help. After a lengthy time away from the public eye following her accidental 2018 overdose, Lovato is back with new music and a new message of self-love that includes openly discussing some of the most difficult times in her life and why she is finally putting herself first.Lovato’s Thursday appearance on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on CTV) was shared online ahead of the broadcast and included an honest conversation with the talk show host about some of the unhealthy restrictions Lovato’s former management team imposed on the singer, including a common practice that happened backstage on DeGeneres’ show. Both women revealed that they only just learned ahead of Thursday’s appearance that Lovato’s former management team would have all the food that contained sugar removed from the green room at DeGeneres’ studio before Lovato arrived. The “Sorry Not Sorry” singer said that this practice wasn’t limited to talk show appearances.
“I’ve lived a life for the past six years that I felt like wasn’t my own. I struggled really hard with an eating disorder, yes, and that was my primary problem and then it turned into other things,” said Lovato, referencing her issues with drugs. “My life, and I hate to use this word, but I felt like it was controlled by so many people around me. If I was in my hotel room at night, they would take the phone out of the hotel room so I couldn’t call room service. If there was fruit in my room, they took it out because that’s extra sugar. We’re not talking about brownies and cookies and candies.”Lovato said that her former team even went as far as restricting her birthday celebrations. “For many years I didn’t have a birthday cake. I had a watermelon cake where you cut your watermelon into the shape of a cake and you put fat free whipped cream on top and that was your cake. For years I did that and it kinda became this ongoing joke, but I just really wanted birthday cake.”In 2019, Lovato signed with her
new manager, Scooter Braun, with whom she celebrated her
27th birthday last year. Lovato’s friend and fellow Braun artist Ariana Grande was also present for the celebrations, which thankfully included a real cake. “I just remember crying because I was finally eating cake with a manager that didn’t need anything from me and that loved me for who I am and supported my journey,” said Lovato. “I think at some point it becomes dangerous to try to control someone’s food when they’re in recovery from an eating disorder.”[video_embed id='-1']RELATED: Demi Lovato signs on with Justin Bieber’s manager[/video_embed]DeGeneres, who has been married to actor Portia de Rossi since 2008, spoke about her wife’s eating disorder and referenced her 2010 book
Unbearable Lightness. “Portia wrote a book about this. She got down to 80 pounds. She almost died,” said DeGeneres, adding that she met de Rossi at her heaviest weight. “I didn’t notice it. That’s when I feel in love with her and she was scared that I would meet her at 165 pounds, when I just thought she was a beautiful person. And you are a beautiful person and you need to eat whatever you want to eat and not withhold,” added DeGeneres.Lovato is set to return to Ellen’s show on Friday to perform her new single “I Love Me,” which will be released tonight at midnight. Lovato talked about the new self-love anthem and said it has a message she wants everyone to hear. “We are good by ourselves. We don’t need a partner, we don’t need substances. We’re good.”
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