Demi Lovato Explains the Emotional Reason She Chopped Off Her Hair
Demi Lovato has shared a lot about her struggles over the years, and she's getting ready to unveil even more in a new documentary. So, in the spirit of opening up further and putting the past behind her, the singer also recently explained the reason she made a big change to her appearance. After years of having long or at least shoulder-length hair, Lovato cut her hair very short, and according to her, the choice was about much more than trying out a new style.
During a Monday, Feb. 22 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Lovato went into detail about what motivated her dramatic November 2020 hair change. Read on to see what Lovato had to say and to find out more about her emotional documentary series. And to read about another surprising style transformation, check out Ricky Martin Just Revealed a Shocking New Look.
Lovato's current hairstyle is dark and shaved around the sides with bright pink hair on top. Asked about the look by host Ellen DeGeneres, she responded, "I feel so free. I feel more authentic to who I am."
The 28-year-old also mentioned how she suffered from an eating disorder and the connection this had to her hair. "I also feel like I used to hide behind my hair," Lovato explained. "I've talked a lot about my past, being in recovery from an eating disorder, and I used to use my hair to hide behind. It would cover my body. And so when I started doing all this work on myself, I thought, what is something I've been holding on to my whole life that I need to let go of, and it was that."
A documentary about Lovato's life titled Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil will be released on YouTube on Mar. 23. The four-part series focuses specifically on the overdose Lovato experienced in the summer of 2018, and shows the singer and those close to her opening up about the situation.
The end of the trailer for the series shows Lovato deciding to cut her hair short. Over clips of the "I Love Me" singer having her hair cut and dyed, she says in a voiceover, "I'm not living my life for other people, or their headlines, or their Twitter comments." She then says "Byeeeee!" and laughs as she records her hair being snipped away.
For more on Lovato and other former child stars like her, read The Biggest Disney Channel Stars, Then and Now.
In the trailer, Lovato and her friends and family explain just how bad the situation was with her overdose. "I had three strokes," Lovato said. "I had a heart attack. My doctors said that I had five to ten more minutes." CNN reports that in a call with press in February, she also explained, "I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today. I don't drive a car because there are blind spots in my vision. I also for a long time had a really hard time reading." She added of the lasting effects, "I feel like they kind of are still there to remind me of what could happen if I ever get into a dark place again."
Miraculously, Lovato pulled through, and now she's telling her story in her own words after it had been so widely reported on two-and-a-half years ago. "There has been so much that I've wanted to say, but knew I had to say it right," Lovato wrote on Instagram about the YouTube series. "I'm so excited to finally share this story with you that I've held on to for the last 2 years."
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On Ellen, Lovato said that she believes she can be an example for others by showing her most difficult moments and toughest fights.
"What's great is that we live in a time where nobody's perfect. And we're not going to get role models by watching people not make mistakes," she said. "We're going to learn from our role models who have overcome their deepest, darkest struggles."
Lovato continued, "First, I wanted to set the record straight. A lot of stories were going around at that time that didn't really know exactly what happened. And I just wanted to tell the world, hey, this is what happened, this is how I got through it, and hopefully, this can help you, too."
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