Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato, born Demetria Devonne Lovato on August 20, 1992^[1], is a singer-songwriter, musician, actor and author. She is known for her roles on Sonny with a Chance and in the Camp Rock series. She had a recurring role on Glee.

Personal life[]

Lovato was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico (and raised in Dallas, Texas) to Dianna De La Garza (née Hart) and Patrick Lovato, who died in June 2013. She has three siblings: an older sister, Dallas; a younger maternal half-sister, Madison De La Garza, and her older half-sister Amber, whose existence she discovered in 2013.

Lovato earned a high school diploma through homeschooling in April 2009, as she was bullied so severely that sherequested a home-schooled education.

She later became a spokesperson for anti-bullying organization PACER and appeared on America's Next Top Model to speak out against bullying. Lovato had suffered from eating disorders and self-mutilation to cope with her emotions and depression.

She entered a treatment facility to confront "physical and emotional issues" and would later acknowledged having suffered from bulimia, self-injury, and "self-medicating" with drugs and alcohol, which they stated was "like a lot of teens do to numb their pain." Lovato added that she had "basically had a nervous breakdown" and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder during the treatment, also noting that she had gained weight during the process.

Lovato was in an "on and off" relationship with actor Wilmer Valderrama since 2010, but they announced their ultimate break-up through Instagram on June 3, 2016.^[2]^[3]

They had been in a relationship with Max Ehrich since March 2020 and the couple became engaged in July.^[4] However, the relationship would end in September.^[5]

Lovato describes her sexuality as fluid and in July 2020, she announced that she identified as queer.^[6]^[7] In May 2021, she came out as non-binary on Twitter. As of 2023, Lovato uses she-her pronouns again.

Career[]

Acting[]

Lovato, alongside eventual friend Selena Gomez, began her acting career on Barney & Friends portraying Angela at the age of 7.^[8] She began playing piano at the age of seven and guitar at the age of ten,^[9] at which time she also enrolled in dancing and acting classes.^[10]

She appeared on Prison Break, and she was on Just Jordan in 2006 and she played the role of Charlotte Adams on As the Bell Rings between 2007 and 2008. Lovato, one the same day in the summer of 2007 auditioned for parts in Sonny with a Chance and Camp Rock and ended up getting both parts, both of them being the lead roles.^[11] And although her acting was thought to be underwhelming in Camp Rock, her singing was genuinely praised.^[12] Between these roles, Demi also had the opportunity to record and release her first and second album.

With the success of the first movie, Demi then reprised her role of Mitchie Torres in Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam in September 2011. And the movie premiered with 8 Million viewers, becoming the number one cable television movie of the year.^[13] After this movie, and along with her personal struggles, Demi left her TV show Sonny with a Chance, effectively ending the series, although it did return as a spin-off, no longer featuring Lovato.^[14] Demi did take her time away from television to get back to the studio to begin working on her third studio album.^[15]

She began appearing as a judge on The X Factor in 2012, which was the show's second season, and was the only judge to return to the show for its third season, along with Simon Cowell. With returning to The X Factor for another season alongside new judges; Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio, their salary doubled from that of their first season.^[16]

It was announced that she would be returning to acting in late 2013, and was revealed to be joining the cast of Glee as Dani starting from the shows fifth season. It was confirmed by Glee, through Twitter, on August 22, 2013.

In December 2013, it was reported that Demi would not be returning for the fourth season of The X Factor,^[17] which Simon Cowell confirmed.^[18] The X Factor was cancelled, less than two months after Demi quit, in February 2014 after three seasons.^[19]

She was announced in June 2015 to have joined the cast of Get Smurfy, the upcoming fully animated Smurf reboot, as Smurfette.^[20]

Author[]

Lovato signed a two-book deal with publisher Macmilla, which was announced in September 2013. The first book, Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year, is about daily inspirational quotes inspired by Lovato's tweets. The book was out on November 19, 2013. Glee co-star and friend, Lea Michele, has a quote in the book (day September 17). The second book will be a memoir released at a later date.^[21]

Cosmetics[]

Lovato launched her skincare cosmetics, Devonne by Demi, in November 2014.

Music[]

Lovato's debut album Don't Forget was released on September 23, 2008. Max Paradise from Sputnikmusic appreciated the enjoyable nature of the record, while Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly was more critical of its lyrical content and Lovato's vocals.^[22]^[23] It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with 89,000 copies in first-week sales.^[24] Ten of its songs were co-written with the Jonas Brothers.^[25] The album has since been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having sold over 500,000 units in the country.^[26] Its lead single "Get Back" was praised for displaying prominent pop rock styles, and reached a peak position of number 43 on the US Billboard Hot 100.^[27]^[28] Similarly, the second and final single "La La Land" was appreciated for its strong showing of rock elements.^[29] The track peaked at number 52 in the United States.^[28]

Lovato's second studio album Here We Go Again was released on July 21, 2009.^[30] She described its acoustic-sounding styles as being similar to the works of John Mayer.^[31] The album received favorable reviews from critics; they appreciated the enjoyable nature and pop rock elements of the record, echoing sentiments expressed for Don't Forget.^[32] It debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 108,000 copies in first-week sales, becoming Lovato's first number one album in the country.^[33] Prior to the album's release, Lovato embarked on the Summer Tour 2009 for promotion.^[34] Its singles "Here We Go Again" and "Remember December" were recognized by Stephen Thomas Erlewine as highlights from the project.^[35] Having peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, the former became Lovato's first top 40 hit as a solo artist;^[28] the latter peaked at number 80 on the UK Singles Chart.^[36]

Her third album was titled Unbroken and its lead single "Skyscraper" received universal acclaim for its message of self-worth and confidence,^[37] and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[28] Its second and final single "Give Your Heart a Break" drew favorable comparisons to the works of Cyndi Lauper and Madonna from the 1980s,^[38] and peaked at number 16 in the United States.^[28] Skyscraper has since been certified Platinum in the US, while Give Your Heart a Break has been certified 2x Platinum in the US. Lovato held their Summer Tour 2012 from June through September,^[39] marking the third leg in their concert tour A Special Night with Demi Lovato. The show included performances throughout North and South America. In July 2012, "Skyscraper" was nominated for "Best Video With a Message" at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, which it won.^[40]

Their fourth album titled Demi was released on May 10, 2013. Straying from the R&B styles featured in Unbroken, the record predominantly incorporates electropop and teen pop elements. The transition was appreciated by Jon Carmichael from The New York Times for its fun nature, though Entertainment Weekly opined that it developed a less-mature image for Lovato.^[41]^[42] It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 110,000 copies, becoming the best-selling debut week of their career.^[43] The record attained acceptable international success, appearing in the top ten in territories including New Zealand and Spain and the UK.^[44] On June 11, Lovato released an iBooks-exclusive e-book, also titled Demi.^[45] The second single from the album, Made in the USA was released July 17 to coincide with Independence day. Lovato co-directed the accompanying music video, becoming their directorial debut. they also contributed to the The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones soundtrack album, recording the song "Heart by Heart."^[46]

Lovato's fifth album was announced in August 2015 and titled Confident. Its first single "Cool for the Summer" was released in July, with the album to be released that October.^[47] She released her sixth album Tell Me You Love Me in September 2017. The album's lead single "Sorry Not Sorry" was released in July 2017.^[48]

On January 20, 2021, Lovato performed the late Bill Withers' track "Lovely Day" during the Celebrating America primetime special in honor of the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Their performance was backed by frontline workers battling the coronavirus pandemic, American citizens and several celebrities including Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jenna Ushkowitz.

Filmography[]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Barney & Friends	Angela	2002 - 2004 (10 episodes)
2006	Prison Break	Danielle Curtin	("First Down")
2007	As the Bell Rings	Charlotte Adams	Disney Channel short, 2007 - 2008 (11 episodes)
2007	Just Jordan	Nicole	("Slippery When Wet")
2008	Camp Rock	Mitchie Torres
2009	Sonny with a Chance	Sonny Munroe	2009 - 2011 (47 episodes)
2010	Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam	Mitchie Torres
2010	Grey's Anatomy	Hayley May	("Shiny Happy People")
2013	Glee	Dani	2013 - 2014 (4 episodes)
2014	Matador	Party Guest	uncredited ("Quid Go Pro")
2015	From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series	Maia	(2 episodes)
2016	Zoolander 2	Demi Lovato	uncredited
2017	Smurfs: The Lost Village	Smurfette	voice
2018	Charming	Lenore	voice
2020	Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga	Katiana Lindsdóttir
2020	Will & Grace	Jenny	(4 episodes)
2021	Celebrating America	Demi Lovato	Featured Performer (performing "Lovely Day")

Trivia[]

She is 5 ft 3½ in or 161 cm tall.
She weas mentioned in the episode Makeover by Rachel Berry and by Dalton Rumba.
Prior to her appearance on Glee, their song Give Your Heart a Break was covered in the fourth episode of Season Four, The Break-Up, by Rachel and Brody and their was mentioned in Makeover.
She is good friends with Glee star Chord Overstreet as well as Kevin McHale whom she has known since they were around 9 years old. She is also good friends with Darren Criss.
She and Kevin both hosted the 2012 Teen Choice Awards, where they won the award titles for Female Summer Music Star and Twit, and the show won an award for Comedy.
She is the first former Disney star to appear in the show.
They returned to Disney in 2013 to cover their version of Idina Menzel's song, Let It Go, for the Disney animated movie Frozen. Coincidentally, this song was covered by Rachel, who is Shelby Corcoran (played by Idina Menzel)'s biological daughter.
She was balancing her schedule for two of Fox's TV shows; as a special guest star on Glee, and as one of the judges of The X Factor. However, she reported on December 2013 that she wouldn't return for The X Factor's fourth season.
She was born on the same day of the same year as Alex Newell.

Quotes[]

“	I don’t want people to take from this, ‘Oh my god, Demi is kissing a girl.’ I want people to take from it this is actually an incredible step in our generation today where I’m able to play a young lesbian on primetime TV. … I’m honored to be able to be hopefully inspiring people with my character to be who they are and not be afraid of it or ashamed.	”
—Demi on their role as Dani, On-Air with Ryan Seacrest ^[49]