In a recent interview on Ashley Graham’s podcast Pretty Big Deal , Demi Lovato opened up about how her eating disorder is what eventually “led to” her drug overdose.
She got incredibly emotional and candid throughout the interview, letting fans really see what she goes through.
Demi Lovato recently revealed on Ashley Graham’s podcast, “Pretty Big Deal”, that trying to recover from an eating disorder was a contributing factor that led to her drug overdose in 2018.
Demi has always been fairly open about her mental health and body image struggles, but now she is realizing how it directly affected her overdose.
She began by explaining the new approach she is taking to her career.
“I don’t have to be in a one-piece leotard on stage,” she said . “Because I’m tired of running myself into the ground with workouts and extreme dieting.”
She then revealed that at the times she thought she had recovered from her eating disorder, she had actually fallen deeper into it.
“Thought the past few years was recovery from an eating disorder, when it actually was just completely falling into it,” she said .
While in the past she would binge and purge her food, her relapse presented the disorder in the form of over-exercising
The symptoms “weren’t as obvious” as before, she said.
She explained that she wished someone would have stepped in and told her she was being excessive.
“When you don’t have people that know the signs around you … like, what I think I really needed was someone to come in and saying like, ‘Hey, I think you need to look into how much you’re working out,’ like, maybe three times a day is excessive for working out,” she said.
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“Like, there were days when I lived at the gym, and I would take business meetings at the gym on my breaks from my workouts.”
“And I’d be gross, but at least I didn’t have to leave and shower and I could go right back into my workout,” she continued .
“I’d eat a meal, go workout, eat a meal, go workout. And it’s like, that’s just not happiness to me, that’s not freedom.”
She said that she still felt pressure to maintain a certain body type that eventually pushed her over the edge in July 2018.
“When you have certain people around you that are telling you certain things, that you should look a certain way, it makes it harder.”
“So I was in that situation — I was just running myself into the ground,” she went on .
“And I honestly think that’s kind of what led to everything happening over the past year”.
“It was just me thinking I found recovery when I didn’t and then living this kind of lie”.
“Trying to tell the world that I was happy with myself when I really wasn’t.”
Going forward, Demi has a brand new, positive outlook.
“I made a choice going into this next album,” she said.
“Okay when I present this, I’m not going to worry about what I look like”.
“I’m not going to worry about trying to look a certain way or fit a certain mold or whatever, that’s just not who I am.”
“Someone needs to stand up for people who don’t naturally look that way.”
“Like, I had to work my ass off every day at the gym six days a week to maintain that figure”.
“And it’s just like, that led me only one way, and I don’t want to go down that path again.”
She added that her mental health is not worth succumbing to unrealistic beauty standards.
“So I’m not willing to destroy my mental health to look a certain way anymore.”
I am so glad to hear that Demi is back on her feet, and I have no doubt her next album is going to be the best thus far!
Let us know what you think of Demi’s latest interview on Ashley Graham’s podcast in the comments below!
