Demi Lovato Candidly Opens Up About Rape And Sexual Assault In New Documentary
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy Reading Time: 3 minutes
The YouTube premiere of Demi Lovato’s four-part documentary series Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil is right around the corner. It debuted at the SXSW Film Festival where people got to see a very vulnerable side of the singer. She opens up about experiencing rape and sexual assault which she has never spoken about publicly before.
Demi Lovato Speaks About Losing Her Virginity To Rape As A Teen
Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil first opens up with a warning. “This documentary contains raw and honest discussions about addiction, eating disorders, sexual abuse and mental health. It may be triggering for some” it says. During the documentary, Demi speaks very candidly about being raped during her Disney days.
“When I was a teenager…I lost my virginity in a rape,” she says. “I called that person back a month later and tried to make it right by being in control and all it did was make me feel worse.”
SEE ALSO: DEMI LOVATO EXPLAINS WHY SHE’S REVEALING HER DARKEST SECRETS TO THE WORLD
“My #MeToo story is me telling somebody that someone did this to me, and they never got in trouble for it. They never got taken out of the movie they were in. There’s the tea” she adds.
Demi Implies That The Rape Happened During Her Disney Days
As she talks about this experience in the documentary, clips from her days on Disney Channel working on Sonny With A Chance and Camp Rock play. This leads the audience to assume that the rape happened while she was working on one of these projects.
“I really beat myself up for years — which is also why I had a really hard time coming to terms with the fact that it was a rape when it happened,†Demi says. “We were hooking up but I said — hey, this is not going any farther, I’m a virgin, and I don’t want to lose it this way. And that didn’t matter to them, they did it anyways. And I internalized it and I told myself it was my fault because I still went in the room with him. I still hooked up with him.”
Demi was one of the Disney stars that publicly declared they were waiting to have sex until marriage. She wore a purity ring as did the Jonas Brothers who she got to work with throughout the Camp Rock franchise. After being raped, Demi’s bulimia got so bad that she began throwing up blood.
Demi Reveals She Was Sexual Assaulted On The Night Of Her Overdose
In 2018, Demi suffered a drug overdose that left her fighting for her life. On the night of the overdose, she claims that she was sexually assaulted by her drug dealer. “I didn’t just overdose. I was taken advantage of,” she says. “When they found me, I was naked and I was blue. I was literally left for dead after he took advantage of me.”
But that was not the last interaction Demi had with that man. She invited him over her house a few months later. “I wanted to rewrite his choice of violating me,” she explains. “I wanted it to be my choice. I said, ‘No, I’m going to f*** you.’ It didn’t fix anything or take anything away — it just made me feel worse. It brought me back to my knees and begging God for help.”
The former ‘X Factor’ judge also speaks in the documentary about how she uses weed and alcohol in moderation now. This comes along with her announcement that she will be coming out with her first album since 2017 called Dancing With the Devil…The Art of Starting Over. The album will be out on April 2.
SEE ALSO: WATCH DEMI LOVATO SHARE THE TRUTH ABOUT 2018 OVERDOSE THAT NEARLY KILLED HER
You can catch Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil on YouTube on March 23.
