"I was suppressing who I really am," said the pop singer, adding that they're "so free" now that they've come out.
For any celebrity, their fans mean a lot to them, so they try to share as much as they can about their personal lives and singer Demi Lovato is no exception. Recently, the pop star came out as non-binary. "Over the past year-and-a-half, I've been doing some healing and self-reflective work. And through this work, I've had the revelation that I identify as non-binary. With that said, I'll be officially changing my pronouns to they/them," said Lovato, 28.
"I feel that this best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person I both know I am, and am still discovering." The announcement was made through their new podcast, 4D with Demi Lovato, reports PEOPLE. Lovato then delved into a personal conversation with Alok Vaid-Menon, a gender non-conforming writer and performer.
According to Now This, the two-time Grammy award-winning artist said they are prioritizing their well-being over their career by coming out. “In 2018, when I overdosed, I feel like the reason why that happened was because I was ignoring my truth, and I was suppressing who I really am in order to please stylists, or team members, or this or that, or even fans that wanted me to be the sexy, feminine pop star in the leotard and look a certain way,” Lovato said on the podcast.
“Now I just realize it’s so much more important to live your truth than to ever suppress yourself because that’s the type of stuff that happens when you do," they continued. Lovato has always been open with their fans about their journey, including the lows. Lovato also said that by coming out, they finally feel free after spending years conforming to gender expectations and trying to fit into the public’s perception of them as a “Disney pop star.”
“I was doing whatever I could to seek joy in other areas of my life but couldn't even feel it until I started being myself,” Lovato said on their podcast. “I’m so free now.” In 2020, they released a YouTube documentary, Simply Complicated, where they revealed that they first tried cocaine at the age of 17. In another documentary, Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil, they opened up about their health struggles as well.
"I had three strokes. I had a heart attack," Lovato said. "My doctors said that I had five to 10 more minutes." Despite it all, they came out stronger. "I've had a lot of lives, like my cat. I'm on my ninth life... I'm rebirthing," Lovato said at the time. "I'm ready to get back to doing what I love, which is making music." In February 2021, they told the Associated Press that they haven't completely healed from the overdose in 2018.
“I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today,” they said. “I don’t drive a car because I have blind spots in my vision. For a long time, I had a really hard time reading. It was a big deal when I was able to read a book, which was like two months later because my vision was so blurry.” They are still working on their sobriety but they've come a long way since.
References:
https://people.com/music/demi-lovato-comes-out-non-binary-changing-pronouns-they-them/
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