Demi Lovato Opens Up About Extreme Dieting and Near Fatal Overdose

In a recent sit down with Ashley Graham on her podcast, Demi Lovato got candid about her past eating disorder following her 2018 drug overdose.

Lovato said although she has her drug addiction under control, she still struggles with her eating disorder daily. At one point, she thought she was recovering, but she got worse with extreme dieting and workouts.

“I’m tired of running myself into the ground with workouts and extreme dieting that like, I thought the past few years was recovery from an eating disorder when it actually was just completely falling into it,” she said.

“I realized that maybe my symptoms weren’t as obvious as before, but it was definitely an eating issue,” Lovato added, according to Paper Magazine. “[…] I think when you have certain people around you that are telling you certain things that you should look a certain way, it makes it harder. […] It was me thinking I found recovery when I didn’t, and then living this kind of lie and trying to tell the world I was happy with myself when I really wasn’t.”

Lovato opened up to say that it was the pressure from those around her telling her she needs to look a certain way that caused her to overwork her body in the gym, at a certain point she would take business meetings at the gym.

In the sit-down, Lovato revealed her food disorder began when she was only nine-years-old and that her addiction was a result of being bullied at school.

Lovato also wanted to let the audience know that addiction is not a straight line, and like anyone else, “has difficult days.”

 “Now, when I look in the mirror, and I start to have a negative thought, I don’t stop and say, ‘No, you’re beautiful. You’re gorgeous. I love you. You’re perfect the way you are,’” she said. “Because I don’t believe that.”

“You’re healthy, and I accept you.” Lovato continued. “So you express gratitude in the health, and then you just express reality in accepting yourself rather than trying to convince yourself of something that you don’t believe.”