Demi Lovato Fabulous Magazine interview: 'I felt uncomfortable today. Knowing I have bad angles and the photographer can take a bad shot makes me insecure. But I'm a lot better than I used to be. In my first shoot after having treatment, I went into meltdown and ran away from the studio. So I've made progress.'

By 15 she was a pop star, billed as Disney's successor to Miley Cyrus' teen-queen crown. Bulimia, which she'd suffered from since the age of 12, ravaged her body, and then there was the drink, reported cocaine abuse, depression and self-harm.. After punching a backing dancer on a plane during a tour, Demi was admitted to rehab for three months. There followed a further six months when she was so disillusioned by the industry, she considered quitting.

'I'm not saying I'm perfect, or fixed, but I am learning to love and accept myself. My outlook is more positive and I am happy.' Surrounded by a security guard and half a dozen Topshop bags from a whirlwind shopping splurge, Albuquerque-born Demi is cautious but candid, and refreshingly free of the psycho-babble you would expect from a celeb who has spent three months in rehab.

Any scars from her self-harming are hidden by tattoos on her wrists, which say "Stay" and "Strong" - a tribute to her fans for supporting her. Demi hit screens in 2005, playing Angela in children's series Barney & Friends. At 14, she landed roles in Disney film Camp Rock and television show Sonny With A Chance.

She was part of an exclusive group of teen actors, including the Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus, who, like Britney and Christina before them, had the good looks and squeaky-clean personalities required by the Disney machine. But as stardom beckoned, so did bullies at her school in Dallas, Texas.

'They called me a whore and told me I was fat and ugly. I shouldn't have listened, but I took it to heart and it hurt. I thought maybe I didn't have friends because I was too fat.' So she starved herself, and anything she did eat, she threw up again. Within six months she had lost over 2st and weighed 6st 4lb - unhealthy for her 5ft 2in height.

'I'd make myself sick up to six times a day. My mum was worried, but because I was going through puberty I was having growth spurts so she assumed that was why I was thinner.' When skinniness didn't provide her with the friends or happiness she yearned for, Demi sought solace in drugs. It was reported that she was snorting cocaine, but Demi, aware of the influence on her young fan base, is reluctant to go into detail.

Club promoters gave me drugs and alcohol in clubs. 'It's something I don't really want to talk about. What I can say is that I was depressed. I would come off stage in front of 18,000 people and suddenly be alone in a hotel room. I'd come crashing down and would try to find a way to recreate that feeling, to stay 'up'.

Promoters gave me drugs and alcohol in restaurants or clubs. They wanted me to come back so I would be seen there. They were basically kissing my ass,' she says, a flash of anger briefly interrupting her sunny demeanour. 'I thought they were my friends. I thought I was having fun. Being a celebrity can be dangerous. Nobody says 'no'. That's why so many end up overdosing and dying. It could definitely have happened to me.'

When the drugs didn't block out her pain, she cut herself. "It started with my wrists. People saw that, so I cut in places they couldn't see," she says.

"You do it because you feel so bad inside. You don't know how to take it out other than on yourself." Demi - whose mother Dianna, a former cheerleader, divorced her father Patrick when Demi was just two - felt unable to confide in her parents.

"I'd just get scolded if they found out," she says. "They were worried, but I knew they wouldn't understand. I had a hard time opening up to friends. People were there for me but I didn't utilise them. Do I wish I had? Yes."

Instead, she threw herself into her work. Demi's first album, Don't Forget, was released in 2008. The following year she starred in the Disney film, Princess Protection Program, and released her second album, Here We Go Again. It shot to No.1 in the US charts.

"I went from movie to album to touring to television and back," she says. "Being in the limelight wasn't the root of my problems, but it didn't help. I never took more than two weeks off in four years and it caught up with me."

After Demi punched backing dancer Alex Welch in November 2010, allegedly because she believed Alex had told tour managers she'd been behaving inappropriately, her family and management finally recognised the extent of her problems and sent her to rehab.

"It wasn't my idea, but I didn't fight it," says Demi.

She spent the next three months at the Timberline Knolls facility in Illinois.

"It was really, really hard and scary," she says. "I was homesick and lonely and several times I thought f*** it, I'm leaving. But my mum told me I would regret it. This was my only chance."

Slowly, she started to recover.

"I had 14 hours of therapy a day. I listened to music and learned to knit. When I finally left, it was like being let out of prison."

After her release last January, she took six months off, and enjoyed it so much she considered staying out of the limelight for good.

"I didn't know if I'd be able to go back to work, but I knew I would get so bored. I couldn't see myself going to college or working nine-to-five."

Last September, she returned to the stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. "It was awesome," she says. "Although there is a lot of temptation, I'd learned to cope."

The songs on her new album reflect her heartache, and include For The Love Of A Daughter, about the rift between Demi and her father after he - seemingly keen to cash in on his daughter's notoriety - did a series of interviews about her.

The betrayal is still raw, and she says she has no interest in rebuilding a relationship with him. Nor does Demi plan to resume acting until she is fully confident. "I need to be secure in my body before I go back in front of the camera. Anyone in recovery from an eating disorder would find that triggering, and I'm not ready," she says.

She admits her stunning new size 10-12 body is taking some getting used to: "After so long being thin, it was terrifying being heavier. But I am a naturally curvy Hispanic girl. I don't deprive myself - I had a Kit Kat last night, but I don't eat s*** every day. I have a meal service that brings my food to my home so I don't have to think about being healthy."

Although she no longer drinks, Demi admits that she has self-harmed and made herself throw up since leaving rehab. "I've slipped up a few times, but each time I have learned from it, and it's become further apart," she says.

She's still BFFs with Miley Cyrus, and has found an unlikely ally in Cheryl Cole, who, after watching a recent MTV documentary about Demi's troubles, tweeted her support. "I was so excited. I'd love to meet her," Demi says. Currently single, her exes include Joe Jonas, 22, and actor Wilder Valderrama, 32.

"I'm not dating at all. I love having a boyfriend but need to be secure on my own first," she says.

Despite Demi having had a lifetime of troubles before she's even 20, she insists she has no regrets.

"There were times I wish I'd been a normal teenager so I could make mistakes and not be scrutinised. But I don't mourn the childhood I never had. I'd rather have been travelling the world and making albums than at high school."

And as for the bullies who made her life hell? "I don't think or care about them," she says. "I wouldn't change what I went through. I've learned from it and it's made me stronger."

Demi's single Give Your Heart A Break is out May 14. Her album Unbroken is out now.

Hi Demi, it’s great to have you here in London – how do you find travelling and are you enjoying your time here?
I really love travelling and I’ve had a really great time here in London. I’m only here for a couple of days but since I’ve been here the fans have been so amazing. It’s always fun coming to London.

The new album seems to have taken a different direction to how you started out with Disney. It’s a lot more R&B. Do you think it shows more of who you are and the route you want to take with your music in the future?
I chose to make this album more R&B because it’s something that I haven’t done before and I just really wanted to experience what it would be like. I don’t know if it necessarily best represents who I am so I don’t know if I’d do it again on the next album, but you never know. Sometimes I go into an album prepared to record say a pop album and it comes out pop-rock, so you just never know what can happen!

Your new album, ‘Unbroken’,  is out this week. That’s quite a defiant title – what is the meaning behind it?
The meaning behind ‘Unbroken’ is that it just kind of represents the journey that I’ve been on. I’ve gone through a lot but nothing has been able to break me and today I stand unbroken.

You worked with some great artists on the album. How did these collaborations come about and who was your favourite to work with?
It just kind of happened, I didn’t really plan any of it.  The most memorable was definitely getting to work with Timbaland and Missy Elliott. I had so much fun working with them in Miami, it was one of the best weeks of my life! It was awesome – I had a blast and I really enjoyed working with them.

You started your career with acting. Is that something you think you will go back to?
I definitely want to go back into acting at some point, but right now it’s not my top priority. I’ve really just been focused on performing, and making music is my number one passion. Maybe in a little while I’ll go back to television or movies but for right now I just want to focus on music.

You have an incredible 6.3million Twitter followers (and yet only follow 233 lucky people!). Do you enjoy using Twitter and how do you decide who to follow?
I follow people that I find really interesting or people that I’m friends with. Everyone that I follow I think I’ve probably had some sort of encounter with, except for Britney Spears, but you have to follow Britney Spears! I’m really thankful for twitter because it’s almost like a direct line to your fans – you can tweet something and it’s instantly put out into the world in front of 6 million of your fans. I love it. I think it’s a great way to communicate with your fans.

There are so many strong female artists in pop right now. How do you feel you fit in?
I don’t really put myself up there with artists like Katy Perry or Rihanna. I still feel like I’m working really hard to get there. Hopefully one day I’ll be at their level, but for right now I’m content with where I am. But of course I still want to achieve those kind of goals and have those aspirations.

You do a lot of work for anti-bullying campaigns and have spoken a lot about the struggles you have been through. What advice would you give to young girls who might feel the pressure of trying to fit in?
I would say if they’re being bullied then to speak up about it – tell someone, don’t bottle it up. If you’re struggling with self image, you’re not alone. It’s something that I still struggle with today – I’m not always perfectly happy with my body. After all, I’m a woman and what woman is? But I make sure I tell myself that I’m beautiful and I tell myself daily affirmations, so I would recommend that to younger girls – and guys.

As you are here in England, which British stars do you admire?
I love James Morrison. He’s one of my favourite musicians. I also love Corinne Bailey Rae, and Amy Winehouse of course was so incredible, but I think Adele is my favourite.

What are your ambitions for your music?
I don’t really know where I see myself going with my music but hopefully it’s some place where I can reach a bigger audience and I can really speak to people with my music and have them relate to it. I feel like Adele’s career has taken off and gone so far because she’s so easy to relate to and so vulnerable in her songs. I really want to accomplish that on my next album.

Who would you say are your main influences, and who did you listen to growing up?
Kelly Clarkson and Christina Aguilera were really my two main influences growing up, but thanks to my mum I also had a lot of other, older influences like Motown and stuff like that. I loved Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin.

Disney stjärnan Demi Lovato, 19, slog en av Jonas Brothers danserskor och checkade in på rehab. Hon har gjort en pop comeback med det nya albumet Unbroken och pratar här med Metro om att överkomma sina demoner och varför hon älskar sina fans så mycket.

I Selena Gomez intervju med Cosmopolitan, pratar hon om hur Demis och hennes vänskap är lika bra som förut, om inte bättre!

Här är vad Selena hade att säga:

"Vi hade inte så mycket pengar, när vi kom ut hit, så vi bodde tillsammans för att dela på utgifterna.

FORMER Disney star Demi Lovato has revealed she only pulled through from her drug abuse and self-harming thanks to the love of her mum.

The 19-year-old star of Sonny With A Chance and Camp Rock quit a tour and went into rehab in October 2010, later admitting to a breakdown caused by bulimia, self-injury and drug Sabuse.

On the eve of her third attempt to break the UK music market, the American star has opened her heart about how her mum Dianna Hart de la Garza helped her through it.

She said: "My mother is everything to me. She's my anchor, she's the person I go to when I need to talk to someone.

"She is an amazing woman.

 

“I got through it with the support of people like my mother.

“You can only make it when you feel that you are loved, no matter what, when you feel that you will get another chance.

“I am grateful and I am ready to make this year a much better year. I have so much energy now. I feel great.”

As she returns with a new album Unbroken and single Skyscraper, Demi claims what happened to her has been a humbling experience.

Famous aged seven, starring in Barney and Friends before joining the Jonas Brothers on Camp Rock and being given her own show Sonny With A Chance, Demi now realises she needs to take a break and learn to relax. She said: “Being a workaholic might have been the problem in the first place.

“I never stopped, I was like the energy bunny, I was going and going and going.

“No more of that. I am ready to lead a different life now.

“I listen to my body now, I eat better, I get my regular sleep.

“It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do. You feel so much better for it in the morning.”

Perhaps her new outlook in life will allow her to give her music the go it deserves.

Despite the success of her fellow Disney friends Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, Demi has still to crack the charts. Her first two albums Don’t Forget and Here We Go Again limped in at number 192 and 199. But Unbroken could change this.

Ballad Skyscraper became her first American Billboard top 10 hit last year and Unbroken went top five in the album charts.

On the recording of Skyscraper Demi admitted: “It was a very difficult song for me to record.

“It was a cry for help for me.

“And I felt very raw when I recorded it. A lot of emotion went into this song.”

Drawing on some of her own experiences, she tells her fans to be careful who they listen to and watch out for peer pressure.

She said: “I know that for a fact.

“It’s very important that you have a good support system, no matter what you do in life. And just because one friend says jump, it doesn’t mean you need to jump as well.

“Be careful of not being led in the wrong direction. And make sure you pick your friends wisely. You don’t want to hang out with the wrong crowd.”

 

När Demi blev frågad om vem hon såg mest fram emot att träffa på The Grammys, så svarade hon Adele och att hon tyckte att hon är fantastisk!

Jag skull älska att se de göra en duett tillsammans!