It sounds like Demi Lovato’s cover story offers a deep dive into her aspirations, from wanting to emulate Oprah Winfrey to discussing her future memoir and music career.
The interview with writer Kate Williams promises insights into Lovato’s dreams and her journey, making it a compelling read to cap off January. Enjoy exploring the full story online!
In the less picturesque downtown corner of Los Angeles where Demi Lovato is shooting her “Neon Lights” video, the sun sets during the golden hour.
Palm tree silhouettes darken against a pink sky, contrasting with streets lined with no-parking signs and neglected cars, like a station wagon with broken windows and a sedan with a perpetually open door, its backseat piled with forgotten clothes.
Entering through the plastic-sheathed doorway of the brick warehouse where Lovato is filming, the scent of weed and skunk dissipates. Inside, the scene transforms: assistants, cameramen, and stylists navigate around electrical wires and rolling wardrobe racks.
A busy production assistant maneuvers through the bustling crowd, deftly balancing a tray laden with various coffees—iced, hot, espresso, and a chocolatey drink crowned with whipped cream.
At the heart of the action, on a mirrored stage, Demi Lovato is camera-ready. The music blares as she launches into another take, bouncing energetically and pumping her fist to the chorus. Her neon blue hair, fuchsia lips, and lime green nails radiate under the black lights. The director watches intently from the monitors, shouting encouragement like “Yeah, Demi!” to the crew. Backup dancers join in, clapping and cheering throughout the performance.
As the take concludes, Lovato playfully sticks her tongue out at the camera and adjusts a strand of hair that’s gotten caught in her lipstick.
Lovato’s family and friends, including her mom, dad, sisters, and family friends, fill the set with a mix of comfort and Texan hospitality, adorned in Uggs and carrying Louis Vuitton bags.
Despite ample chairs available, Lovato’s mom, Dianna De La Garza, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, opts to stand, seemingly convinced that there’s always someone else who deserves the seat more than she does.
The group also includes Demi’s stepdad, Eddie De La Garza, who previously managed her during her teenage years. Her older sister, Dallas Lovato, is dressed in a rainbow raver wig and sequins.
Demi’s 11-year-old younger sister, Madison De La Garza, is an actress currently on a break from filming the CBS series “Bad Teacher,” based on the Cameron Diaz movie.
Collectively, Demi’s immediate family members boast 1.2 million Twitter followers, with everyone except Eddie having verified accounts.
Lovato steps offstage and trades her four-inch heels for flip-flops before approaching me with a publicist in tow.
“You’re going to make me look really cool, right?” she teases.
Her friend overhears and playfully shakes his head.
“Really, she’s not,” he jests, pulling her into a hug.
She groans good-naturedly and hugs him back.
“I love all of it, or else I wouldn’t do it.“
Putting pleasantries aside, Lovato suggests we continue our conversation at her apartment a few days later.
Inside, the modern high-rise reveals aspects that make her relatable, echoing the tabloids’ portrayal of her as “just like us”: half-unpacked grocery bags in the kitchen, blankets casually draped over chairs, and pink walls adorned with an impressive Marilyn Monroe portrait.
Yet, there are also clear signs of her celebrity status: an oil painting commemorating her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a Teen Choice Award proudly displayed in the kitchen, and an elevator that conveniently opens directly into the foyer for guests.
“Don’t judge me!” Lovato calls out from down a dim hallway, then reappears in the midst of her beautification routine, sporting a blue face mask.
With an early morning flight to New York looming, she’s squeezing in as much pampering as possible during her brief downtime.
The chiropractic masseuse has just departed,
“I encountered her on my way into the apartment.”
This multitasking lifestyle is routine for Demi Lovato. In March last year, her single “Heart Attack” from the album ‘Demi’ debuted impressively at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, achieving double platinum status in the U.S. and Canada.
This success marked her transition from Disney Channel star and Jonas Brothers tourmate to a formidable musical presence.
Concurrently, she balanced roles such as sparring with Simon Cowell on The X Factor and a recurring spot on Glee.
Adding to her repertoire, she launched a capsule collection of nail art for The New Black and authored the book ‘Staying Strong 365 Days a Year,’ released recently. In February, she’s set to headline her inaugural arena tour.
With a massive social media following—over 50 million fans across platforms like Twitter, Facebook, VEVO, Instagram, and Keek—Lovato maintains a relentless pace, ensuring there’s no room for slacking.
“I had been in talks to write a book about my story, but I’m not ready. I’m so young, and I haven’t finished my journey yet.”
Lovato sinks into a luxurious purple velvet chair as a colorist meticulously paints her hair with shades of blue and green from Manic Panic.
“I love all of it, or else I wouldn’t do it,” she says of her many projects. “I look at my life and think, ‘There’s not enough time.’
I co-directed my last two videos, and I have this dream of being behind the camera and maybe one day directing my own movie. I want to host my own talk show and be a younger Oprah. I want to write songs for other artists. I want to be an author. I want my own makeup line, and my own skincare line. I want to do a lot more philanthropy work, and for a while there I thought I wanted to go to law school.” Law school? She laughs.
“Yeah, I love crime dramas. I thought maybe I’d go if I had a kid. You know, part-time law student, part-time new mother? It makes no sense whatsoever.”
She’s also interested in politics. “I like knowing what goes on in the world,” she explains.
“Most people don’t know that about me, and then they’re shocked to hear me talk. Like, ‘How do you know that?’ Duh–CNN!”
“Staying Strong” is the reason for Demi Lovato’s upcoming trip to New York, where she’ll promote the book across various talk shows.
The book features a collection of inspirational quotes and daily meditations, influenced by her habit of tweeting late-night maxims, such as:
“I’d rather feel every kind of emotion than not feel at all.”
“People would be like, ‘Are you high?'” she says with a laugh, leaning back in her chair.
“But my mind just races–I’m always coming up with quotes or sayings I want to write down. I had been in talks to write a book about my story, but I’m not ready. I’m so young, and I haven’t finished my journey yet.
But my fans would always ask things like, ‘Once you’ve tackled your problems, how do you keep working on them?’ Part of my recovery was making sure that I started the day off right, so I would read a quote and a passage, and that would set the intention for the day.”
By now, Demi Lovato’s struggles with eating disorders, depression, self-harm, and addiction are integral parts of her story, alongside her early career beginnings on “Barney and Friends” alongside Selena Gomez.
Following her time on “Barney,” she gained prominence with Disney’s “Camp Rock” and “Sonny With a Chance” after being discovered at an open casting call. She released her first album- Don’t Forget.
In 2010, following a physical altercation with a backup dancer on a plane returning from Peru, Demi Lovato checked into rehab.
“My parents tried to control me, but I’d be like, ‘Oh, really, I’m grounded? Well, I pay the bills,'” she says. “They did the best they could.
And I think that’s why a lot of young stars struggle when they’re making the money or providing for their family.
My mentality was, ‘Work hard, play hard.’ It was hard to listen to the word ‘no.’ I wanted to make my own rules. I thought that if I was adult enough to get there, then I could party like an adult,” she says. “And obviously, I couldn’t.”
While in rehab, Demi Lovato was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After completing her rehab program, she opted to stay in a sober living facility.
From the beginning, she has been open about her experiences, discussing them on talk shows and in interviews.
Her first tour following rehab was documented in an MTV documentary.
“It was hard to listen to the word ‘no.’ I wanted to make my own rules.”
“When I went into rehab, I deleted my Twitter,” she says. “I just didn’t want to face anything. My parents came to visit, and I asked if people knew yet, and they said, ‘Yeah, it’s everywhere.’ And they were like, ‘How do you want to handle this? We can say it’s a personal time and we don’t have to tell them what you’re in here for, or we can just be 100 percent honest and show them that you can get through it and other people can get through it, too.'”
Earlier this year, Demi Lovato received an award in Washington, D.C., as part of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day.
She also partnered with CAST Recovery Services, where she received treatment, to establish the Lovato Treatment Scholarship.
This scholarship honors her biological father, who passed away in June after struggling for years with mental health and addiction issues.
Reflecting on her father’s illness, Lovato shared,
“I went through an entire life without my birth dad because I assumed that he was a bad guy and never took into consideration, even after I went through my own challenges, that he was just ill. And I thought, well, maybe this can save somebody’s dad.”
But still, she says,
“I would like to separate myself from being the girl who overcame her issues, or the Disney chick who ended up in rehab while she was still on Disney. I don’t want people to hear my songs on the radio and be like, ‘Oh, that’s the girl who cut.’ Now I have probably the best relationship between any artist and their fans, because I have no secrets.”
Lovato catches sight of herself in the window. Her hair is completely saturated with dye, and the face mask has dried and started to crack. “That,” she remarks, pointing at her reflection, “is frightening.”
She continues,
“The only thing that sucks about being in the public eye is doing some appearances. I don’t like award shows.
Sometimes, a fan will come up and automatically put their arms around me and I just shut down and start hyperventilating. I don’t want to sound like a dick or a diva, but I really do have anxiety problems.
If I get stuck in a crowd, I’ll start to think, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die. Something’s going to go wrong and someone’s going to stab me.’
There was a time when people started trying to kiss me, or creeps would buy backstage passes and reach for my face and try to make out with me.
That was completely violating, and ever since then, I always fear what someone is going to do when they come up to me.”
Although Demi Lovato recently turned 21, she exudes the demeanor of an adult, a role she has often embraced. She recalls wanting her own place as early as five years old.
“I was best friends with my Aunt Lisa, and she had her own apartment, and I liked spending time with her, not my friends at school,” she recalls. “So I asked if I could move in with her. My mom was like, ‘What? You’re still sucking your thumb, for Christ’s sake!'” That same year, Lovato sang in front of others for the first time, and there was no going back. “It wasn’t even like it was a revelation or anything. It was just like, ‘This is how it’s going to be.'”
“I would like to separate myself from being the girl who overcame her issues, or the Disney chick who ended up in rehab while she was still on Disney.”
Her confidence has made Demi Lovato a perfect fit for The X Factor, where she became the youngest judge, being 11 years younger than the next youngest judge.
“It’s definitely intimidating,” she says. “I was like, ‘What if I sound like an idiot up there?’ But my manager was like, ‘They didn’t offer it to you because they thought you’d sound like an idiot. You might as well just go for it.’ I told myself I was going to just go up there and do me, so that’s what I did.”
Now in her second season, Demi Lovato has established herself as the perfect counterbalance to Simon Cowell’s carefully cultivated curmudgeonly persona on The X Factor.
She’s known for playfully adopting a British accent when delivering criticism and consistently highlighting their significant three-decade age difference.
“When I first saw Demi a couple of years ago, I thought she’d be interesting to work with because of what she’s been through, coming through the whole Disney system, being a bit of a rebel, and also a very marketable artist. People like that are always going to be what I call ‘lippy,'” says Cowell.
“One of the things I really like about Demi is that she’s been in the business since she was very young, and she has had her ups and downs, but she’s always been very open and honest about her experiences and she’s turned negatives into positives in both her life and her career.
She is one of the most ambitious people I have ever met. She can do whatever she puts her mind to, and most important, she’s very talented.” And, he adds sarcastically, “She’s a total brat.”
Naya Rivera, with whom Demi Lovato shared a memorable kiss on Glee (“It tasted like talent,” Rivera famously remarked), echoes Simon Cowell’s praise.
“We were going through a tough time after having to film that third episode,” remembers Rivera, referring to the tribute to Cory Monteith.
“So the mood was down, and when she came on it was just like having a new friend and she brought a light and energy to the set.”
Demi Lovato, known for her relentless optimism, doesn’t dwell on her past wounds but is open about her tattoos. She has tattoos all over her body, although she isn’t certain of the exact number.
“It’s so confusing, so I just say I don’t know,” she explains, flipping over her wrists to reveal the mantra “Stay Strong,” which covers cutting scars from her past.
Reflecting on her earlier days on the Disney Channel, she recalls wanting to pierce her nose in the middle so she could hide it during filming and reveal it at night to express her wild side.
“Turns out, I didn’t need the nose ring,” she concludes.
