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Demi Lovato is looking back on how feeling "miserable" as a teenager impacted her career behind the camera.
During a March 3 appearance on Keke Palmer's podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, the "Confident" singer reflected on her time with Disney and how she has learned to give grace to her younger self for doing what she had to in order to "survive," per People. Lovato appeared on several Disney projects like As the Bell Rings and Sonny with a Chance before finding more fame with her role in Camp Rock.
"I have a lot of compassion for my younger self, because we were held to such high standards at such a young age... I think I was so hard on myself at the time that I wish I'd had more grace for myself," she said.
Lovato admitted that she wasn't the "nicest" person on set because of her own inner turmoil.
"I was 16, 17, like, I don't know," she said. "I just wasn't always the nicest because what happened was when people would come on set and they'd say, 'Good morning, Demi. How are you?' In my head, I would literally think, 'You don't care about me. You don't really care how I'm doing.'"
Lovato continued, "I just wanted so badly for someone to see that I was struggling. 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."
The "Sorry Not Sorry" musician explained that she had a breakdown after promoting Camp Rock 2 that ended with her going through Alcoholics Anonymous and learning to make amends as part of the program's 12 steps.
"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 said, adding, "And I think that chapter of my life where I was being really reflective of everything and, like, I wanted to make sure I wanted to right my wrongs."
Lovato previously shared more about her decision to be open about going to rehab after a "very public outburst" during an October 2025 appearance on the Las Culturistas podcast, explaining that she didn't have anyone to look up to experiencing similar struggles that she could "relate to at 13."
"And that's kind of the catalyst for why I've been open about all of my struggles as in that moment when I made that decision, it set the tone for the rest of my life of like, you know, I wanna help people," she said. "And the best way I know how is sharing my personal experience with them."