Demi Lovato is in May’s Harper’s Bazaar with a wide-ranging cover profile that touches on everything from her childhood, to growing up on the Disney Channel, to her struggles with addiction and an eating disorder, to dating. It’s a good read and a great reminder that Lovato’s honesty and humanness what really makes her a star.
In a particularly good segment, Lovato discusses her friendship with Ariana Grande, whom she became close with last year after signing with Scooter Braun (#tbt). Lovato and Grande are both young women who came up as child stars (Lovato on Disney’s Sonny With a Chance, Grande on Nickelodeon’s Victorious) and are now pop icons. Precedent suggests the media would probably like to see them fight, like Katy Perry and whoever Katy Perry is supposed to be beefing with this week.
Per the interview, that’s not Lovato’s style (emphasis mine):
“I love the fact that Ariana and I have such a supportive friendship because it’s hard to find. Two women who are in a competitive industry—the whole world seems to want to pit women against each other, so it would be so easy to do that,” Lovato says. “I always long for friendships with women. I think it’s so sacred. And actually, late last year, the night of the winter solstice, I had about 16 girls [for a] group meditation, and we set our intentions for the new year. It was so beautiful, and that divine feminine energy is what has picked me up and carried me through some of my darkest times.”
Lovato addresses some rockier relationships in the interview, like her relationship with Disney contemporary Selena Gomez, who was her best friend back when they shared a network. They haven’t appeared close in years, and Lovato says they’re no longer friends:
According to Lovato, she’s not currently close with Selena Gomez either. (The two were inseparable in their early Disney years.) Gomez, though, posted a supportive Instagram story after Lovato’s performance at the Grammys. “When you grow up with somebody, you’re always going to have love for them. But I’m not friends with her, so it felt …” Lovato stops herself. “I will always have love for her, and I wish everybody nothing but the best.”
No matter what, it seems like Lovato is doing well, as she deserves.
For now, Lovato is embracing her independence. “My life motto was ‘powering through it,’ ” she says. “But when you power through your life all day, every day for 10 years, you’re ignoring all that pain or you’re just trying not to self-destruct … . It’s not really living.
“I’m feeling it out as things go,” she adds. “But I finally feel free.”