Demi Lovato, the former Disney star, recently shared more details about her past struggles with drug and alcohol addiction and eating disorders in a video appearance on the podcast “Call Her Daddy.”

Lovato, who turned 30 recently, revealed that her issues were exacerbated by a controlling management team during her time as a Disney star.

In the podcast, she spoke at length about how a controlling person on her management team agitated her eating disorder and led her to drug relapse as a teenager.

Lovato admitted that these issues preceded her time on the Disney network, as she began experimenting with drugs at the age of 12.

However, she stated that the pressure to behave a certain way in the public eye during her time as a Disney star amplified her issues.

“There were expectations of you to be a role model, because all of a sudden you’re thrust into that position whether you want it or not,” she told CHD host Alexandra Cooper.

She revealed that she, along with her co-stars at the time, including Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and the Jonas Brothers, lived “in fear” of a website that posted “all scandalous things happening to Disney actors” in an effort to taint their good boy/good girl branding.

But the image regulation didn’t stop there. Lovato’s team also sought to ensure that she remained thin, which was a huge problem for someone in recovery for an eating disorder, as she stated.

Lovato said that efforts to control her eating, which led to her bulimia relapse from 2016 to 2018, agitated when one particular individual (whom she did not name) joined her team.

She recalled being barricaded in her hotel room—where the phones had already been removed so she couldn’t order room service—after admitting to her team that she had binged and purged earlier that night.

They also isolated Lovato from anyone who tried to look out for her.

For example, after her chef alerted Lovato to the fact that her team was monitoring her bank statements to make sure that she wasn’t buying “cookies” or “pastries” when she went to Starbucks, they talked her into replacing that chef.

Lovato also recounted the way this person reacted when she threw up blood.

“This was in, like, 2017, and this person looked at me and said, ‘You’re not sick enough,’” she said.

“And I think that was his way of saying, ‘No, you’re not going back to treatment, because if you do, this will look bad on me.’ And so I didn’t, I didn’t go back into treatment. And less than a year later, I ended up overdosing.”

Turning to substances was the only way Lovato felt she could escape her team’s control.

“My way of blowing everything up was relapsing on drugs and alcohol. Because they always said ‘If you use, you’re out.’ And I was like, ‘Time to get out, bye.’”

But at least now, she seems to understand the extent of the manipulation that she underwent. “I just put all of my trust and faith into people around me that didn’t have my best interest at heart.”

The stories Lovato told about being a child actor felt strikingly similar to those former Nickelodeon star Jennette McCurdy recounts in her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, which came out earlier this month.

McCurdy describes the abuse she suffered from her mother (who was also her manager) and a TV executive she refers to throughout the book as “The Creator.”

This is not the first time Lovato has spoken about her struggles with addiction and eating disorders.

She has been open about her experiences in the past and has been an advocate for mental health and recovery. She most recently left rehab in December 2021.

Former teen stars breaking their silence about being mistreated is certainly a trend that is gaining momentum and it’s one that is set to continue, especially if Lovato has anything to do with it.

She told Cooper, “I do have a project in the works where I want to talk to some of [my old Disney co-stars] about their experiences and other child stars.”

This project is aimed at creating awareness and shedding light on the struggles of child actors and the pressure they face to maintain a certain image in the public eye.