Demi Lovato talks Disney child star struggles and ‘daddy issues’

Demi Lovato is grown up — and opening up about child stardom.
The “Sonny with a Chance” alum got candid during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter about her highly publicized struggles with fame and her upcoming collaboration with Disney for a documentary on child stars.
“I think part of me always thought that if I made it in the industry that I would get the love from my birth dad that I didn’t have. And he was troubled, and I think I always chased success because I knew it would put me in his line of sight again and it would make him proud of me,” Lovato told the publication through tears.
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She continued: “But now that I’ve dealt with those daddy issues, I don’t need the industry as much as I once did, and I’m proud of myself for getting here.”
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Lovato stars and directs “Child Star,” which includes fellow celebrities Christina Ricci (“The Addams Family”), Raven-Symoné (“That’s So Raven”), Drew Barrymore (“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”), JoJo Siwa (“Dance Moms”) and Kenan Thompson (“Kenan & Kel,” “All That”) who found fame as children or teenagers.
Hulu, the video streaming platform, is owned by The Walt Disney Co., which also owns Disney Channel. The documentary is slated for a Sept. 17 release.
Lovato’s latest documentary project also serves as a follow-up of sorts to her YouTube Originals docuseries “Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil,” which followed the star’s struggles and aftermath of a harrowing 2018 overdose that included three strokes and a heart attack.
She also told THR that she would have preferred to be on Nickelodeon compared to Disney Channel because their stars were taught to project purity.
“At Disney, you became this instant role model, whether you liked it or not,” Lovato said. “And because Disney Channel was so big at the time, there was also this unspoken pressure that if you did make a mistake, you knew that there were millions of people just waiting to take your spot.”
According to THR, in the “Child Star,” Lovato’s “Camp Rock” castmate Alyson Stoner opens up about the Disney star’s concerning behavior during the franchise’s buzzy sequel, admitting that their heart was racing as they addressed the topic.
“I remember a sense of walking on eggshells,” Stoner, who uses they/them pronouns, says in “Child Star,” according to THR. “There was definitely a lot of fear of a blowup.”