Demi Lovato Reflects On Her ‘Miserable’ Time as a Disney Star and Being ‘Bratty on Set’

For Demi Lovato, Disney wasn’t exactly the happiest place.

The 33-year-old singer, who began her Disney Channel career in 2007 on the series As the Bell Rings and also starred in the Camp Rock franchise and Sonny with a Chance, reflected on her teen stardom during a candid conversation the Tuesday, March 3 episode of the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast.

“There’s so many emotions that come to mind,” Lovato shared with host Keke Palmer. “I have a lot of compassion for my younger self, because we were held to such high standards at such a young age.”

After experiencing what she described as a “breakdown” following her Camp Rock 2 tour, Lovato explained how she entered the Alcoholics Anonymous program and began working through the twelve steps, including reaching out to people she’d hurt: “I wanted to right my wrongs.”

“I had to make amends to a lot of people saying like, ‘I’m sorry. I was so challenging to work with at the time. I was so miserable in my own skin and dealing with what I was going through, that I wasn’t the nicest person to work with at the time,’ ” she revealed.

She also pointed out that she was still just a teenager and trying to cope with her life when she made the shows. “I just wanted so badly for someone to see that I was struggling,” she continued. “And when I ended up having my breakdown, like everyone did, and I was able to explain to people afterwards, like, it wasn’t personal. Like, when I showed up and was bratty on set, like, that was not my intention. I was just doing…what I had to do to survive.”

Now, Lovato says she can also look back with both honesty and gratitude.

“Those were the years that started it all for me,” she reflected. “Very fond memories — and some not so fond ones. But I made friends I’ll have for the rest of my life.”

Lovato struggled in her years after Disney as well. She suffered a near-fatal drug overdose  in 2018 that left her in the hospital for two weeks.

As Star recently reported, friends are now keeping a close eye on Lovato after she cancelled a string of concerts in order to focus on her health.