Photo: getty
She opened up about her sexuality in a recent interview.
By Darren Paltrowitz — Written on Mar 25, 2021
Demi Lovato — born Demetria Devonne Lovato in August 1992 — is undeniably a global superstar. The actress, singer, songwriter, television personality, and entrepreneur has been active within the entertainment world since the early 2000s, giving us hit after hit.
But even though this powerhouse singer has found fame and success, her personal struggles catapulted her into the spotlight. Lovato, who is currently 28, has used her international celebrity to spotlight causes she's passionate about, and has remained open about her struggle with her addiction, eating disorder, and mental illness.
In new docuseries "Dancing With The Devil," available now on YouTube, she touches on these subjects, along with other matters not related to her 2018 overdose.
Following her split from her ex-fiancé Max Ehrich, fans began wondering about her sexuality and related relationship goals.
Is Demi Lovato gay?
She recently declared she doesn't know if she'll wind up 'with a man or woman."
In an interview with Zane Lowe back in January 2020, Lovato was directly asked about her personal life. Surprisingly, she opened up and addressed everything asked of her.
Lovato stated that one of her primary goals was to build "partnerships with people" as related to "meaningful relationships." This led to a discussion of Lovato wanting to start "a family of her own."
When asked more about that family, Lovato stated that she doesn't "know what that looks like. I don't even know if I see it with a man or a woman, but I just know that at some point I would love to do that this decade."
Lovato had also clarified that she had been questioning her sexuality, which caused her to "shy away" from the church she had been a follower of. She also admitted to being sexually fluid.
Lovato's 2020 interview wasn't the first time she had publicly commented about her sexuality.
Close to two years before her confessional, Lovato had discussed her sexuality in a March 2018 interview, and identified herself as being "very fluid," whereas she had declined to comment about her sexuality in prior interviews.
Lovato had further clarified to the reporter: "I think love is love. You can find it in any gender. I like the freedom of being able to flirt with whoever I want."
The turning point for Lovato's openness about her romantic pursuits appears to have been within her 2017 YouTube documentary, "Simply Complicated."
Lovato has been in many high-profile relationships.
Oftentimes, celebrities date other celebrities. In the case of Lovato, who has been famous for almost her whole life, much of dating has been reported on by major media outlets.
Among the people Lovato has been linked with are Joe Jonas, Trace Cyrus, Wilmer Valderrama, Luke Rockhold, Austin Wilson, and Henry Alexander Levy. Her most recent known relationship was with Max Ehrich. The two were actually engaged briefly before splitting up.
Lovato has been linked with a woman in the past.
In July 2018, it was reported Lovato may have been seeing Australian model, actress, and television presenter, Ruby Rose. These rumors started as a result of social media flirtation between the two.
For starters, Rose had shared a no-longer-available photo of herself to Instagram in which Lovato's Instagram account was tagged in a barely-visible font on Rose's crotch area. Several years prior to that, Rose had tweeted, "I'm like the one person Demi has slept with that didn't sell naked photos of her."
However, in 2015, Lovato told an interviewer point blank, "I did not have a relationship with Ruby Rose."
Lovato has used social media to speak openly about relationships and personal struggles.
While many celebrities primarily use their social media accounts to talk about upcoming projects and other professional matters, Lovato has not been afraid to use social media to directly talk about what is on her mind. In turn, her social media accounts have covered everything from what she's working on to her on-going recovery.
The earlier-mentioned January 2020 interview in which she addressed her fluid sexuality was previewed by Lovato as part of a January 24, 2020 Instagram post.
A few months prior, in October 2019, Lovato shared a post that was a personal tribute to someone who had struggled with addiction. She listed a phone number for those in need of addiction-related assistance.
One month prior to that, a September 5, 2019 Instagram post by Lovato showed her "unedited" in a bikini, commenting on her cellulite. Within the posting she noted: "here’s me, unashamed, unafraid and proud to own a body that has fought through so much and will continue to amaze me when I hopefully give birth one day."
Her newest docuseries, 'Dancing with the Devil', just hit the internet.
The first two episodes of the newest docuseries premiered on March 23, 2021. In the much-anticipated look into Lovato's life, she discusses several deeply personal topics including her near-fatal overdose in 2018 and her sexual trauma.
Not only will she tackle those heavy topics, but she will also continue speaking on her sobriety, her body image issues, and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Her older sister, Dallas, also makes an appearance in the series.
Lovato's latest interview covers her sexuality, overdose, and finding out who she is.
In a cover story for Glamour, photos of beautiful Lovato were brought to life. It brilliantly captured her confidence and restoration, as well as her awesome brightly colored pink hair.
She opened up about her 2018 overdose and how nuanced it was, and how she was struggling to figure out who she actually was. "I was trying on different identities that felt authentic to me but weren’t me," she revealed.
Not only did she speak out about her body image, but the pressure and impossible standards the music industry puts on female or female-identifying artists, adding, "The super-feminine pop star was an identity that sounded like it fit and looked like it fit, so I put it on like it fit.”
Now, she's rebuilding her life the way she wants it, continuing, “I am now making choices — for the day, and then the future — about what it is I want and what’s going to make me the happiest.”
She even discussed her sexuality: “When I started getting older, I started realizing how queer I really am.... I hooked up with a girl and was like, ‘I like this a lot more.’ It felt better. It felt right... Some of the guys I was hanging out with — when it would come time to be sexual or intimate, I would have this kind of visceral reaction. Like, ‘I just don’t want to put my mouth there.’"
She also revealed a pivotal moment that made her notice her sexuality.
Demi Lovato recalled during Facebook Watch's "Coming Out 2020" premiere how watching the 1999 film "Cruel Intentions" when she was younger was one of the first occasions where she realized she identified as queer. "Cruel Intentions" was a controversial movie at its time that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair.
The singer-songwriter told "Queer Eye" Tan France, "It was definitely when I was young and should not have been watching 'Cruel Intentions,' but I did, and it was that scene where they made out on the park lawn. 'Oh, wait a minute. I really like that.'... I was like, 'I want to try it!'"
After watching it when she was a little older around 17, she knew she was queer.
But it wasn't until she broke off her engagement with Ehrich that she realized how queer she is.
It isn't a secret that Demi Lovato was briefly engaged to Max Ehrich, but according to her, it helped her realize how queer she was.
“This past year, I was engaged to a man and when it didn’t work, I was like: ‘This is a huge sign'," Lovato said in her Glamour interview. Lovato reportedly ended the engagement after just two months after figuring out that Ehrich's intentions weren't genuine.
Though it hurt, Lovato says it was a sigh of relief, saying, “I thought I was going to spend my life with someone. Now that I wasn’t going to, I felt this sense of relief that I could live my truth.”
Lovato still doesn't feel ready to tell the world her sexuality yet, but the "Cool For The Summer" singer told Glamour that she is "too queer" to be with a cisgender man right now. The talented superstar revealed that she came out to her parents in 2017: "It was actually, like, emotional but really beautiful."
Darren Paltrowitz is a New York-based writer, editor and author. He is also the host of the Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz podcast.