Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.comWhen 18-year-old Demi Lovato announced that she was leaving her support slot on the Jonas Brothers tour in order to “seek medical treatment for emotional and physical issues she has dealt with for some time,” many young fans of the star of Disney’s Camp Rock movies and its popular TV series Sonny with a Chance were saddened to hear it, but few in the press seemed surprised.
Perhaps it’s because, depressingly, her trajectory is so much more the rule in Young Hollywood than the exception. As much as we have numbed ourselves to the morbid tabloid tales and True Hollywood Stories of child-star flameouts, we tend to forget how much their subjects are, in fact, actual children.
We follow their romantic lives (Lovato’s split from Joe Jonas earned heavy ink earlier this year), critique their clothes (too slutty!) and their weight (anorexic! too chunky!), and often gleefully forecast their doomed adulthood before they’ve even had a chance to earn their driver’s licenses—while failing to connect it to how utterly vulnerable and insecure every one of us felt at that same age, on our own much smaller and more private stage.
When I interviewed Demi two years ago in New York City (click to see the full feature, Demi Levato: Meet Disney’s New Princess), she was a girl on the verge—riding the crest of the first Camp Rock‘s success and preparing to release her first pop album, which debuted at no. 2 on the Billboard charts the week after our story ran. But despite her sweet, strenuously friendly demeanor and the professed support of her then-best friend and fellow Disney star Selena Gomez, she already seemed markedly distressed by the negative attention that came with her success.
As the paparazzi who flooded EW’s downtown set lurked outside her dressing-room trailer, she spoke of being so antagonized by peers following her early TV appearances that ”I asked to leave public school,” she said. ”I was kind of bullied. I had a hate wall in the bathroom, and everyone signed a petition that said ‘We all hate Demi Lovato.”’
After the release of Camp Rock, she elicited a new kind of resentment, for her presumed closeness to co-star (and back then, platonic friend) Joe Jonas: ”Imagine being new to Disney, ‘and your first big job is being the romantic interest of one of the biggest heartthrobs on the channel. Any girl that is a friend of the Jonas Brothers gets hate mail and is automatically suspected as a girlfriend.” An apparent YouTube feud instigated by alpha girl Miley Cyrus seemed like more of the same, Mean Girls-style malice played out in the giant echo chamber of online forums and internet gossip sites.
Bullying, despite its recent sharp uptick in national awareness, is clearly not the only cause of Lovato’s troubles; parenting, circumstance and personal psychology have often already formed each individual’s reaction to the klieg-light blast of early-access fame. But Hollywood is a brutal place even for those who enter it fully grown, and for every Drew Barrymore-style tale of child-star redemption, there are so many more without happily-ever-afters. It’s sad that Demi Lovato, however the arc of her own story plays out, is neither the first nor the last; she’s just the latest in a long and dismayingly familiar line.
(Follow The Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)
More on Demi Lovato:
Demi Lovato drops out of Jonas Brothers’ tour, checks into treatment center
EW Exclusive: Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez songs heading to ‘Band Hero’
The price of fame… she has a choice – it’s either she gives it all up or to keep herself open to all the risks. I just hope she becomes strong enough to withstand all the pressures…
demi if you ever read this you are amazing no matter what that hate wall says. those people regret it now. bullying sucks. But you lived through it. Demi, no matter what you are awesome. i standup for you all the way.
and, rehab doesnt matter. it will help you. the only reason you ” cut” was because of those awful people. after rehab, you will be so much better. demi your awesome an so is your music and show. your amazing remember that.
It seems this happens to Disney kids more than most, the Nickelodeon kids seem to have their heads screwed on right
Freddie- That’s because Disney runs their stars into the ground. Most of the kids are made into triple threats. I wonder when they sleep.
Demi dont listen to what the girls say they are just jealous of you come on you know better than that just make pretend that the “hate wall” never existed.I also get bullied and I act like they dont exist.BTW,Im just 12.I hope you get out of rehab.
First of all, I don’t believe these stars and the so-called Bully claim. Come on! It’s a trend and a easy excuse for the public. It sounds more “exotic” than eating disorder. The rumor on the internet and in the blind columns is that it’s NOT bullying that sent her to Rehab, but the real dope that sent her. I’m more in line with that line. I’m sick of this bully trend.
And for the others who claim that bullying caused them to commit suicide, etc. — GET OVER IT. Most of us were bullied….turn off your twitter…turn off your phone…walk on the other side of the street if someone is bullying…just GET OVER IT!
@FromChicago: You’re a real a$$hole. Obviously you were the bully at school. Some kids are constantly hearing taunts about their appearance or actually fearing for their safety on a daily basis, and that is NOT FAIR. Just because this girl is a celebrity doesn’t mean she sould get over it. No one should just get over it, for that matter. And by the way, no one should have to turn off their phone to escape being bullied. Parents and teachers (and yes, Disney execs) should pay more attention and actually give a damn.
@FromChicago – It must be great to have perfect brain chemistry. I’m so glad for you. Some people would embrace that as a blessing instead of using it as an excuse to kick an entire class of people who are by definition already down. How’s the view from the top?
@From Chicago Telling someone to “get over it” is easier said than done. Yes, some cases of ‘bullying’ are in fact blown-up way out of proportion. But, if someone is being bullied enough, it is not so easy to avoid. And locking yourself inside a room will not cut it.
@Allison: I agree!
@Bessy: I LOVED that comment. It made my night
i ♥ demi….hope she getz better!!!
When 18-year-old Demi Lovato announced that she was cutting her support slot…
Pun intended?
And the award for the most inappropriate joke at the expense of a youth goes to…
On the subject of child stars, when reading the recent EW interview with several child stars (all of whom were several years younger than Demi Lovato), I was struck by how much they have had to deal with. Most of them said all of their friends were adults, and they spoke about dealing with fans, the media, people hacking their computers and stealing their stuff, etc. I don’t know if there is a solution, but I could tell from their answers that growing up in front of the camera is very unhealthy. That interview just made me so sad for them.
I just read that same article-it made me sad when they said they don’t have any real friends their age. It’s just not healthy to not have age appropriate peers to help your take on the world. No wonder so many act way too old for their ages, and end up acting out later!!
Get well soon demi x i think JB fans r slowly killing Ashley Greene so worry not!
It’s a comment like that that we are talking about, that kind of comment isn’t very nice for Ashley Greene to hear.
Well-written article. We all do tend to forget how hard childhood and the teenage years can be and yet we somehow expect these kids to weather everything with class. It can be done with strong parents and if the kids themselves are strong but that’s not always the case in life. I wish Demi the best and hope that she’s able to come out of this stronger. She seems to be handling this the right way (and not the LiLo way, though I’m sad for her as well). I agree that these kids have choices they can make for themselves but that doesn’t give anyone else the excuse to make rude comments or constantly ridicule what they’re wearing and who they are with.
i agree ST! its shameful how people can be to stars who have barely got a driver’s licence
Ok… I hate to be the loser who points this out, but I accept it. The show is Sonny with a Chance.
Thanks for spotting! fixed
You also misspelled her last name “Lovato” in the link to the old EW article.
If the rumor mill is true, I think Joe Jonas needs to get his butt kicked by his mom. Didn’t he think that a tour with an ex- girlfriend would be stressful enough without bringing the new one along for the ride. And if the name calling is true; shame on Disney, the promoters, the cast, AND Joe Jonas. Nice to know that bullying is alive & well at Disney. I’m proud to say that my girls had a great time playing frisbee with their Jonas Brothers CDs, at least til they broke when they hit our block wall. They even deleted the songs off their ipods. They think that Joe is an unfeeling jerk. I happen to agree with them. Get well Demi! And forget that jerk. He’s not worth the air he breathes!
i obviously don’t know the details of their relationship, but i do know that joe jonas is a 21 year old guy. he, too, is a young adult (not quite a kid, but certainly not a “grown up” in the traditional sense) and all he did was break up with his girlfriend. do not attack him just because you’re a fan of her. (and no, i’m not some tween with a room plastered with jonas posters. i just don’t think someone should protest bullying by bullying.)
When is 21 not a grown up…? Year by year the accepted age for being a grown up is being raised and raised. Like Kanye West said he wasn’t a grown-up at 32. What about in 10 years will we all consider 29 year olds to still be children?
21 is a YOUNG adult. the average 21 year old is a junior in college, still learning, still making mistakes, especially on the romantic front. i just think that erin teaching her daughters to throw cds against a wall because a total stranger broke up with another total stranger is a strange way to protest bullying and hate.
I’m pretty sure that Disney arranged this whole tour, not Joe Jonas. This isn’t just about Joe. This girl has a life beyond that and beyond what we see. Apparently shes estranged from her father. Also, she seems more sensitive about press negativity then some of her peers. I’m not that big of a fan so I don’t know all the details of her life, but I followed her on twitter, and I noticed her personality changing just from her tweets alone. She seemed depressed. I’m glad she’s getting help.
erin it’s not joe jonas’ fault. it’s not like he cheated on her. and it’s not his fault that demi has this problem. people just handle break-ups differently. and disney can’t stop bullying there because most of the actors at disney are teenagers and bullying happens unfortunately. and i’m proud to say that if i had kids i wouldn’t let them use violence. if they’re destroying their cd’s they must think that it would be okay to hurt a person.
Oh, Allie, Allie, Allie. What must it feel like to have your words spewing out of your anus?
Destroying cds does NOT equate to violence and wanting to hurt people. That’s ridiculous! It just means they’re no longer fans!
In my opinion, Joe didn’t just break up with Demi; not only did he move on very quickly and publicly but he invited her to come on tour with him. He’s had a history of breaking up with girls and moving onto the next in a matter of weeks/months. Joe could have handled the situation a lot better. The fact that he asked Ashley to come on tour with him was insensitive. He used to talk so highly of Demi when they were friends and later when they were dating so this probably felt like a major low blow to Demi. Personally, I think Joe is a jerk for treating so many girls like this.
I’m still waiting for the Jonas camp to offer some type of statement offering Demi a quick recovery or a get well. Interesting no comment from them at all on her condition. Some friends…
When 18-year-old Demi Lovato announced that she was “cutting”…
Please can you use another verb?
I feel sorry for her, really. But I’m not surprised though. Disney should tell those kids that it’s okay to feel bad sometimes and they don’t have to hide it to themselves because of the media.
She was all smiles when she dated Joe Jonas, I never saw her smiling that way. When they broke up, I remember saying to myself, “quit that tour, Demi, you will not be able to keep it together”. And here we are.
There are some Disney kids who are doing pretty good with their life: Shia, Raven, Aly, Tia and Tamera, Hilary. The new kids should reach out to them. They should not be afraid if the media gets in their private business- who cares, really? Gossips come and go, kiddies. Demi, keep up girl, you have Lil’ Juanita who looks up to you. God bless.
I wonder when the media will start to be held accountable for bullying? In an age where the actual story is passed up for gossip, its no wonder that these things happen.
All the best to Demi.
Elizabeth, I was thinking this same thing yesterday. Regular people are blamed and rightfully so for online bullying, but then the Perez Hilton’s and there ilk do much worse and are not treated to the same standard, and they have audiences exponentially larger than any local online bully. These are the Bully Role Models.
I have never seen anything Demi has done or really heard any of her music, but I feel sorry for her and wish her well. I think she is beautiful and seems talented. I am sure she’ll come out on top. It takes guts to put your personal well-being over all of the money she stood to make continuing that tour. She seems like a smart girl.
Totally agree. Like I don’t really listen to her music and I haven’t watched much of her show, but she just seems like such a sweet girl, she’s so likeable. I can’t help but wish the best for her.
I read on tv guide the young actress had been using pain pills for a back problem. They said she was also very depressed about an eating disorder.
I love, love, love Demi. I rarely ever like Disney stars, but I think she’s awesome. She’s very talented at both singing and acting unlike most other Disney stars. I really hope she feels better, since she seems like a great person.
Totally agree, she’s the only Disney girl I’ve ever liked.
I also agree. I have always admired her talent and acting skills. (Compared to the other Disney stars.) I think she has a real chance as success in the future. Hopefully, she can get the help she needs to survive the industry.