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Demi Lovato Discloses She Was Sexually Assaulted During Disney Days



Demi Lovato openeded about being a victim of a sexual assault in her teenage years.

Speaking Her Truth

The 28-year-old singer, songwriter, and actress made the shocking revelation in her new documentary, “Dancing with the Devil”, which premiered on March 16 at the South by Southwest Film Festival. In the film, she says, “I lost my virginity in a rape.”

The film implies that the alleged assault occurred when she was 15 during her days as the Disney Channel star of “Camp Rock” and “Sonny With a Chance.” Demi says she called the person back a month after the alleged rape and “tried to make it right by being in control and all it did was make me feel worse.”

“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.”

As a consequence, Lovato says she developed a severe eating disorder to deal with the trauma, and coped through self-harm. But now she feels it’s to speak out.

The star has previously been open about her struggles with bulimia and addiction, including in her 2017 YouTube Originals documentary “Simply Complicated.”

Brutally Honest

The new series also shows the damage Lovato’s drug overdose had in 2018. The overdose came after six years of sobriety. She was taken to hospital after being found unconscious at her Los Angeles home. The drug dealer who brought her heroin that night sexually assaulted her, then left her close to death.

“My doctors said that I had five to 10 more minutes.”

After suffering three strokes and a heart-attack, she’s previously said she had been “left with brain damage and I still feel the effects of that”. Those effects include blurry vision that means she can’t drive and made reading difficult.

“Dancing with the Devil” will be released on YouTube in four episodes starting March 23.

 

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