Demi Lovato
Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato (/ˈdɛmi ləˈvɑːtoʊ/ DEM-ee lə-VAH-toh;[4] born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends (2002–2004), she[a] rose to prominence for playing Mitchie Torres in the musical television film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010). The former film's soundtrack contained "This Is Me", her debut single and duet, which peaked at number nine on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Demi Lovato
- Singer
- songwriter
- actress
2002–present[1]
- Madison De La Garza (half-sister)
- Francisco Perea (great-great-great-grandfather)
- Vocals
- guitar
- piano
After signing with Hollywood Records, Lovato released her pop rock debut album, Don't Forget (2008), which debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200. Its follow-up, Here We Go Again (2009), debuted at number one in the U.S., while its title track reached number 15 on the Hot 100. Her third studio album, Unbroken (2011), experimented with pop and R&B and spawned the U.S. platinum-certified single "Skyscraper". She released her self titled fourth album in 2013, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and contained the top-ten international song "Heart Attack". Lovato's fifth and sixth albums, Confident (2015) and Tell Me You Love Me (2017), infused soul and mature themes. She earned a Grammy Award nomination for Confident, while "Sorry Not Sorry", the lead single from Tell Me You Love Me, became her highest-charting single in the U.S., reaching number six. After a hiatus, she released her seventh and eighth albums Dancing with the Devil... the Art of Starting Over (2021) and Holy Fvck (2022), which reached number two and number seven in the U.S., respectively.
On television, Lovato has starred as the titular character on the sitcom Sonny with a Chance (2009–2011), served as a judge on the music competition series The X Factor USA for its second and third seasons, and appeared as a recurring character on the musical comedy Glee (2013–2014) and the sitcom Will & Grace (2020). She also starred in the television drama film Princess Protection Program (2009), the animated comedy film Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), and the musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020).
Lovato has sold over 24 million records in the United States[5] and has also received numerous accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, 14 Teen Choice Awards, five People's Choice Awards, two Latin American Music Awards, a Guinness World Record, and was included on the Time 100 annual list in 2017. An activist for various social causes, Lovato's struggles with an eating disorder and substance abuse have received considerable media attention, in response to which she published the self-help memoir Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year (2013) and released the documentaries Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated (2017) and Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil (2021).
Early life and career beginnings
Demetria Devonne Lovato was born on August 20, 1992, in Albuquerque, New Mexico,[6] to former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Dianna De La Garza (née Lee Smith)[7] and engineer and musician Patrick Martin Lovato.[8] Lovato has an older full sister named Dallas,[9] a younger maternal half-sister, actress Madison De La Garza,[10] and an older paternal half-sister, Amber, whom Lovato first spoke to at age 20.[11]
In mid-1994, shortly after Lovato's second birthday, her parents divorced.[12] Her father was of Nuevomexicano descent, with mostly Spanish and Native American ancestors, and came from a family that had been living in New Mexico for generations; he also had distant Portuguese and Jewish ancestry.[13][14] He was a descendant of Civil War Union veteran Francisco Perea and Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Xavier Chávez.[15] Lovato had no interest in forging a relationship with Patrick after her parents divorced.[16] Her mother is of Irish descent.[17][18]
She has been vocal about her strained relationship with her father, calling him abusive and once stated, "He was mean, but he wanted to be a good person. And he wanted to have his family, and when my mom married my stepdad, he still had this huge heart where he said, 'I'm so glad that [he's] taking care of you and doing the job that I wish I could do.'"[19][20] After Patrick died of cancer on June 22, 2013,[21] Lovato said that he had been mentally ill, and she created the Lovato Treatment Scholarship Program in his honor.[22]
Lovato was brought up in Dallas, Texas.[23][24] She began playing the piano at age seven and guitar at ten,[25] when she began dancing and acting classes.[26] In 2002, Lovato began her acting career on the children's television series Barney & Friends, portraying the role of Angela.[27] She appeared on Prison Break in 2006 and on Just Jordan the following year.[6] Due to her acting career, Lovato was bullied and consequently requested homeschooling,[28] through which she eventually received her high-school diploma.[29]
Personal life
Residence
On August 20, 2010, her 18th birthday, Lovato purchased a Mediterranean-style house in Los Angeles for her family; however, Lovato decided to live in a "sober house" in Los Angeles after leaving rehab in January 2011.[312] In September 2016, Lovato also purchased a Laurel Canyon home in Los Angeles for $8.3 million, which she sold in June 2020 for $8.25 million.[313] In September 2020, Lovato purchased a Studio City home in Los Angeles for $7 million.[314]
Hobbies
Lovato started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 2016.[315] She was promoted to purple belt in the sport on February 4, 2023.[316]
Sexuality, gender, and relationships
For a few months, Lovato dated singer Trace Cyrus in 2009.[317] Lovato briefly dated her Camp Rock co-star Joe Jonas in 2010.[318] Lovato then had an on-again, off-again relationship with actor Wilmer Valderrama; they first began dating in August 2010 when Valderrama was 29 and Lovato was 18. They ended their relationship in June 2016.[319] Her 2022 single "29" was widely believed to be about Valderrama and the significant age gap in their relationship, although Lovato did not directly confirm this.[320][321] Lovato later dated UFC athlete Guilherme "Bomba" Vasconcelos from January to July 2017.[322] In late 2018, Lovato briefly dated designer Henry Levy until March 2019.[323] She dated model Austin Wilson for a few months until late 2019.[324] On July 23, 2020, Lovato announced her engagement to actor Max Ehrich.[325] The two had begun dating four months prior, but eventually called off the engagement that September.[326] In early August 2022, People reported that Lovato was in a "happy and healthy relationship" with a male musician.[327] On August 20, Canadian musician Jutes announced the relationship in an Instagram post marking Lovato's 30th birthday.[328][329] On December 16, 2023, it was announced Lovato and Jutes were engaged.[330]
Lovato describes her sexuality as fluid, and has said she is open to finding love with someone of any gender.[331][332] In July 2020, she labeled herself queer in a social media statement mourning the death of her Glee co-star Naya Rivera.[333] In March 2021, Lovato came out as pansexual and sexually fluid, stating "I've always known I was hella queer, but I have fully embraced it." In the same interview, she called herself "just too queer" to date men at the time. She also expressed feeling proud of belonging to the "alphabet mafia", referring to the LGBT community.[334][335]
On May 19, 2021, Lovato publicly came out as non-binary and announced the decision to change her gender pronouns to they/them, stating that "this has come after a lot of healing and self-reflective work. I'm still learning and coming into myself; I don't claim to be an expert or a spokesperson. Sharing this with you now opens another level of vulnerability for me."[336][337] She had previously come out as non-binary to her family and friends towards the end of 2020.[338][339][340] Lovato later changed her pronouns to include she/her in April 2022,[341] and described herself the following August as a "fluid person" who had "adopted the pronouns of she/her again" after starting to feel "more feminine".[342][343] That September, she reiterated that she "still feel[s] very comfortable with they/them".[344]
Mental health and substance abuse
Lovato had suffered from bulimia nervosa, self-harm, and being bullied before her first stint in rehab at age 18.[345][346] On November 1, 2010, Lovato withdrew from the Jonas Brothers: Live in Concert tour, entering a treatment facility for "physical and emotional issues".[347] It was reported[348] that she decided to enter treatment after punching backup dancer Alex Welch; her family and management team convinced her that she needed help. Lovato said she took "100 percent, full responsibility" for the incident.[345] On January 28, 2011, she completed in-patient treatment at Timberline Knolls and returned home. Lovato acknowledged that she had bulimia, had cut herself, and had been "self-medicating" with drugs and alcohol "like a lot of teens do to numb their pain".[349] She added that she "basically had a nervous breakdown" and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder during her treatment.[350] She later commented that she used to use cocaine several times a day and smuggled cocaine onto airplanes.[351] In a 2022 interview on the podcast Call Her Daddy, Lovato added that she began using opiates at the age of 13 after a car accident and "was already drinking" by that time.[352][353] She said that this eventually led her to use cocaine at the age of 17.[352]
Other ventures
Activism and philanthropy
Lovato's work as an LGBT rights activist has been recognized by GLAAD, which awarded her the Vanguard Award in 2016.[383] When the Defense of Marriage Act was appealed in June 2013, Lovato celebrated the occasion on social media.[384] Lovato has previously affirmed her support for the LGBT community: "I believe in gay marriage, I believe in equality. I think there's a lot of hypocrisy with religion. But I just found that you can have your own relationship with God, and I still have a lot of faith."[385] In May 2014, Lovato was named lead performer for NYC Pride Week and Grand Marshal of the LA Pride Parade, where she later filmed the music video for "Really Don't Care".[386][387] Lovato became the face of Human Rights Campaign's America's for Marriage Equality in 2015.[388] In June 2016, Lovato participated in a video released by the Human Rights Campaign honoring the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting.[389][390]
