Is Demi Lovato's Dysfunctional Family Life the Reason Behind Her Mental Illness And Addiction?
Demi Lovato is not a new name for us. In the short period of time, she has achieved a humongous success. Starting a career as a Disney star she went on to become one of the popular female pop stars with several hit singles such as Heart Attack, Skyscraper, Confident, and Give Your Heart A Break to her credit.
We all know her professionally but what about her personal life? Her life was not as simple and fabulous as we think. She has surely struggled a lot to achieve her dreams. From her cold relationship with her father, mental illness, to addiction, Demi faced several ups and downs in her personal life. Is her family problem the main reason for her mental illness?
Demi Lovato's Dysfunctional Family Life
Demi was born on 20 August 1992 in Albuquerque, New Mexico as a daughter of a musician and an engineer Patrick Martin Lovato and Dianna De La Garza, a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.
In 1994, only after two years of Demi's birth, her parents got divorced. She grew up with her mother in Dallas, Texas.
The pop star grew up with a father who suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and alcoholism and a mother who was bulimic. Regarding her relationship with her late father, she once said her father was mean and abusive. She had a strained relationship with her dad.
Patrick Martin Lovato died of cancer on 22 June 2013. Though she didn't had a sound relationship with him, after his death Demi founded a Lovato Treatment Scholarship Program to honor him.
Demi Lovato's Personal Struggles Including Mental Illness And Addiction
Demi faced difficult times back in the days suffering from mental illness. Along with increasing popularity in Camp Rock at the age of 15, Lovato was battling with alcohol, cocaine, and oxycontin.
Eventually, Lovato ended up in rehab to get rid of the addiction. Her complicated family life was considered as the main reason behind her mental illness and addiction.
She lived in a West Hollywood sober house for a year, it was the time, Lovato realized her duty to be an advocate to raise awareness on mental illness for young girls with self-image issues.
When I have meet-and-greets, I can’t tell you the amount of times that girls will show me their arms covered in scars or cuts. They’ll tell me, ‘You helped me get through this. Because of you, I stopped self-harming,’ or ‘I got sober.’ Hearing those things gave my life new meaning
She is a role model to millions of her fans as she helped to deal with mental health issues by discussing her own experiences. The singer used her fame for a good reason which in a way helped her to come out of her personal struggle.
The star's struggle with mental illness came in public after she reportedly punched a backup dancer at the Jonas Brothers' tour on 30 October 2010.
The Sorry Not Sorry singer later went to the Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center in Illinois. She was treated for her illness of bulimia, drugs, alcohol, self-injury and bipolar disorder.
Here's Demi's doc u mentary video Simply Complicated about her struggles.
Demi was bullied in her school days and it somehow affected on her mental health as she talked on her doc u mentary video. She is also a spokesperson for LGBT community and advocates for the rights of the community.
Demi Lovato: Quick Facts
- Her birth sign is Leo.
- Her birth name is Demetria Devonne Lovato.
- Demi is of mixed ethnicity as her father was of Mexican descent with mostly Spanish and Native American ancestors. Her mother was of English and Irish descent.
- Demi has an older sister Dallas Lovato and half-sisters Amber Lovato and Madison De La Garza. Madison is an American actress who is known for her role, Juanita Solis on Desperate Housewives.
- She stands at 5'3" (1.61 m).
- Through homeschooling, she completed High-school diploma in April 2009.
- She signed an open letter to stop gun violence created by Billboard.