Demi Lovato, a successful singer, songwriter and actress, has been an advocate for mental health since her early twenties. 

As expressed through numerous interviews, and in her documentaries: “Simply Complicated “(2017,) and “Dancing With The Devil” (2021,)  Lovato explained her battle with bipolar disorder, drug and alcohol addiction, bulimia, post traumatic stress disorder and self harm. 

Lovato has been in the spotlight since she was 5 years old on Barney. She fell into drug addiction and self harm during her teenage years. In 2018, Lovato almost died from a drug overdose, resulting in a heart attack, three strokes, permanent visual impairment and brain damage. Lovato relapsed after being six years sober and went through many phases of addiction and recovery since she was 16. She has been through in-patient treatment five times for her numerous disorders. 

She has spoken about mental health at the Democratic National Convention, has aimed her documentaries towards showing the reality of her battles and has connected her music videos to her mental health.  In October of 2024 she spoke at the panel for the World Mental Health Day Festival hosted by Project Healthy Minds in New York City, stating “I wish I had asked for help sooner.” 

Beyond her addiction, she has been an advocate against eating disorders too. Lovato has been getting treatment for bulimia since 2010. In both of her documentaries, she has talked about her struggle with over-exercising, bulimia and restricting herself from eating foods all together. She struggled on her birthday with eating cake and struggled with the act of eating. Lovato has been open about her experiences with extreme weight loss, to some weight gain, to her every day internal battles with her mind. She has served as an advocate by using her own personal examples and experience to spread light toward others going through the same thing.

Lovato has inspired me tremendously with her public discussions about eating disorders. Lovato cites her eating disorder as a trigger for her other disorders and addictions, and in psychology, this is shown to be true. 

Instead of strict “body positivity,” Lovato has focused on “body acceptance,” and treating herself as a survivor. She has accredited her recovery from her eating disorder to working with a treatment team and cooking at home. Lovato released her cookbook, One Plate at a Time: Recipes for Finding Freedom with Food, this past March. On the Drew Barrymore Show, Lovato said she named it One Plate at a Time because she was often told “one day at a time,” in relation to recovery, and she registered that as recovery being one plate at a time.

Lovato has shaped lives through her music. Her song, “Dancing With The Devil,” came out when she re-entered the spotlight after her near-fatal overdose, and the music video was showing her relapse and what got her to the position she was in while in the hospital and rehabilitation. The video gained major media attention and was significant in bringing awareness to what drug addiction can look like. Lovato expressed how a lot of addiction and relapse is related to environments, toxic friendships and peer pressure, suppressing emotions and coping with reality.