Demi Lovato’s Documentary ‘Child Star’ Details Bullying, Drug Abuse

Generation of Kids (myself included) grew up with Demi Lovato on TV. They watched Lovato, at age 8, draw shapes and count kittens in her acting debut on the PBS series. Barney and Friends. A few years later, they sang the lyrics to “This is Me” at a Disney concert. Rock Camp Special performances of singing and laughing at the comedy scenes “So Random” on Sony with a chance. For Lovato, growing up in the spotlight was all she knew. At 16, she stopped filming to release her albums. Don't forget and here we go again Before starting another project for Disney. It seemed like Demi Lovato was living out every teenage girl's fantasy, only to crumble under the pressure of instant success.

Sixteen years later, Lovato charts this meteoric rise to stardom—and its flaws—in child starA documentary now streaming on Hulu and Disney+. In the 90-minute film, Lovato’s directorial debut, she speaks with fellow former child stars including Drew Barrymore, Christina Ricci, Raven-Symoné, Kenan Thompson, JoJo Siwa and Alyson Stoner about the disorienting effects of finding fame at a young age, and how it led to emotional and mental distress, alcohol and drug addiction and instability.

As Lovato says in the film, “Why am I living my dream, doing what I love, having these opportunities in front of me, and yet I’m so unhappy?”

child star The hit five-part series from Investigation Discovery follows… Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Children's TVReleased in March, the film exposed sexual misconduct, gender discrimination and public humiliation behind the scenes at Nickelodeon. Co-directed by Nicola Marsh, Lovato’s film examines the experiences of young actors across cable networks and film, and ultimately strikes a more hopeful note, showing how former child stars have managed to survive the rejection, betrayal and alienation of their youth to find stability and security. For Lovato, the film seems to offer a powerful reminder that “it’s all going to be okay, boy,” as her latest song of the same name proclaims.

Here are six takeaways from: Child star.

Lovato was severely bullied at school.While Lovato was auditioning for the post-Barney and Friends Concerts in the early 2000s, She says she was tortured by other kids at school. In the film, Lovato says someone wrote “Demi is a bitch” on the bathroom stall and remembers walking to lunch and feeling like the whole school was looking down on her. “They signed a suicide petition saying I should kill myself and it was circulating and people signed it. It was very painful. And that was part of my motivation to pursue my dreams,” Lovato says.

Her co-workers feared her explosive temper.
Lovato says she only has fleeting memories of filming. Sony with a chance and Camp Rock 2which she attributes to “part of my detachment” from the projects. But she confirms long-running rumors that she has been difficult to work with. Raven-Symoné, who guest-starred on the second season of Sony with a chanceShe raises her voice to Lovato in the film, “You weren't the nicest person! You weren't like, 'Hello!'”

“I’ve been in this industry for a long time, and you and I both know how much shine there is around the eyes,” says Raven-Symoné. “I didn’t blame you for that, but I felt like there was something going on there.”

Stoner, who played Lovato's best friend in the 2008 film Rock Camp The 2010 sequel reflects this sentiment. Rock Camp In an interview with The Guardian, Stoner said he would be involved in the documentary, and opened up about how Lovato's erratic behavior caused Stoner to lose “a thread of trust” and “closeness” to her.

“The last few years of working together were very difficult,” Stoner says in the film. “The treatment was very different. I remember feeling very scared. So, there was definitely a lot of fear of exploding.”

One of Lovato's most famous tantrums occurred in 2010, when the 18-year-old punched one of her backup dancers during the Colombia leg of Camp Rock 2 Tour. In Lovato's 2017 documentary simply complicatedLovato said a backup dancer told Kevin Jonas, the Jonas Brothers' father, that Lovato was abusing Adderall, prompting Lovato to respond. Lovato addresses the altercation in the documentary, apologizing to Stoner. Because of the damage I caused.

Stoner and Lovato have struggled with mental health issues and eating disorders.
Both Stoner and Lovato struggled with body image issues. Whenever Stoner (who uses the first person pronoun) saw their photoshopped images in a teen magazine, they said it exacerbated their self-esteem issues. Before and During Rock Camp During a press tour in Europe, Stoner recalls feeling horrified by her appearance and developing “obsessive” behaviors. The pressure to be perfect led Stoner to develop eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, exercise-induced bulimia, and binge eating disorder. Meanwhile, Lovato would throw away her food in bathrooms. Rock Camp Group, as it says in the document.

Lovato also says she struggled with depression, had bipolar disorder, and would binge drink on weekends. During one tour, she played 70 shows in 90 days and couldn’t fathom taking time off. “I get so anxious when I think about how close I was to not being here at all,” she says.

Lovato, Richie and Barrymore experimented with alcohol and drugs as kids.
Ritchie, who starred at the age of ten, The Addams FamilyDrew Barrymore, who appeared in her first commercial at 11 months old and became world famous at 9 years old ET: The AlienDemi and Lovato open up about their unstable childhood and early experiences with drugs and alcohol.

For Richie, whose father was a failed cult leader with a violent temper, her time in Hollywood served as an “emotional safety net,” she says in the documentary. Richie later told Lovato that she turned to drugs and alcohol as a teenager because she “couldn’t remember feeling like there was any other way to be happy.”

Barrymore called Steven Spielberg 'dad' during filming at Her mother sent her to a mental health facility when she was a teenager. (Barry Moore was emancipated from her parents at 14.) She says in the film that a family friend gave her marijuana when she was 10.

Richie and Lovato learned to hide their use of illegal substances. Lovato hid booze in a coffee cup, because solo cups were banned on set, she said, while Richie would ask her assistant for a “warm Diet Coke” or a Diet Coke spiked with alcohol.

Siwa says she was blacklisted by Nickelodeon.
Known for her massive bows and dazzling outfits, JoJo Siwa signed with Nickelodeon at the age of 13. Siwa has also appeared in Nickelodeon projects under her name such as JoJo Siwa: My World (2017), JoJo Follow Your Dream (2019), and Jojo's Dream Birthday (2019). When Siwa posted a video on Instagram in 2021, she claimed that she child starNickelodeon president Brian Robbins called her and told her to call every retailer and “tell them you’re not crazy.” So Siwa went on to call Target, Walmart, JCPenney, Toys “R” Us, Claire’s, and other retailers, she says in the documentary. After her video, Siwa says she was also not invited to Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards, adding that she was “fired from the company.” (A source close to the Kids’ Choice Awards reportedly claimed it was an “honest mistake,” according to the documentary.) diverse.)

Lovato wouldn't change anything about her career.
Before the documentary ends, Lovato sits down with a group of young fans to answer questions about her childhood stardom. When one of the kids asks if she would change anything about her career, Lovato says she prefers to live without regrets: “I’ve made some really questionable choices in my life, but I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t made all the choices I’ve made in my life up until this point.”