Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated

On October 17, 2017, Demi Lovato released her second documentary, entitled Simply Complicated on YouTube. The documentary details the making of her newest album Tell Me You Love Me (also released in October 2017) as well as her struggles with mental health, body image, addiction, and being single.
Lovato's previous documentary Stay Strong (released in 2012) was filmed while the singer-songwriter/actress was high on cocaine.

Demi explains that she initially started drinking, partying, and using cocaine at a young age due to pressures of being popular and trying to understand her birth father (who was an alcoholic, addict, and also suffered from bi-polar disorder.) Her birth father was in and out of her life, manipulating his children by falsey telling his daughters that he was going to die.
While in school, some of the girls started a Demi-Should-Kill-Herself petition, which they passed around. Lovato was hurt and couldn't why her classmates hated her so much and wanted her to slit her wrists. This led to the start of her eating disorder as she was bullied for being slightly overweight (she used food as a means of getting attention.)

After appearing on the popular kid's show Barney & Friends, Lovato did a few commercials before getting involved with Disney and the Camp Rock franchise, which introduced her to the Jonas Brothers and launched her career. She began dating Joe Jonas, while maintaining a close friendship with his brother Nick. After the success of Camp Rock, Demi was given her own successful Disney show, Sonny with a Chance.

During this period the star got more entangled with drugs and alcohol, to the point where she had a party in her hotel room and high on Aderall, trashed the room. Her background dancer and friend Alex 'Shorty' Welch confessed the truth to Kevin Jonas Sr., afraid for her friend. Lovato then manipulated him into telling her who had narked on her. On the plane, Demi punched Welch in the face.
Demi checked into rehab, where she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, but secretly continued abusing drugs and alcohol, becoming difficult to work with and more and more depressed. With Demi spiralling out of control, her entire team threatened to walk away. Desperate, she smashed her phone, dropped it in water, and through hard work and determinatiom, got clean.
In 2017, Lovato is celebrating 5 1/2 years of sobriety (drugs and alcohol), but admits that she still has relapses with her eating disorder. After splitting with boyfriend of 6 years, Wilmer Valderrama, she began purging again on and off. Recovery is a bumpy road. She admits that food is always on her mind -- "What I'm going to eat next, what I wish I was eating right now, what I shouldn't have eaten."
​Going to the gym helps keep the demons at bay. "Working out is my meditation," Lovato says. She practices kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu, where she hopes to one day earn a black belt.
Since her split with Valderrama, she admits to playing the field, saying that casual sex is empowering and a human connection. She doesn't strictly engage with men, either, confessing that she falls in love with the person, not the gender.

All of these struggles and triumphs deeply influenced her more soulful sixth album.
I have been a fan of Demi's since her 2012 album Demi came out. She is so incredibly talented (unlike many of her fellow pop stars) and is criminally underrated. Her open and honest approach about her struggles is inspiring. She is truly a role model to anyone struggling with mental health, self-image/self-worth, alcohol, or drug addiction.
Simply Complicated is available for free on Youtube. The Director's Cut is available through the Youtube Red services.