Was Lovato’s case a one-off, or part of a systemic problem? Sexual abuse will always be an issue for a company that courts children, either as performers or members of an audience. ![]() Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were both asked whether they were virgins at press conferences, while other former Disney child stars, including Bella Thorne and Jordan Pruitt, have gone public with stories of being sexually abused during their time at the company. Disney appears to have fostered a particularly mind-warping kind of gendered culture, coupling the mandatory appearance of sexual purity with an unsafe working environment. We have known at least since Shirley Temple’s heyday that working in entertainment as a child can be psychologically damaging. She was a “little child star role model who has a promise ring,” she says, one of “that Disney crowd who publicly said they were waiting until marriage.” The image she was expected to maintain publicly was so at odds with her private experience that she couldn’t identify the encounter as rape until much later. The trauma of her assault was compounded by confusion, Lovato says, stemming from Disney’s insistence that its child actors maintain an image of sexual purity. They never got taken out of the movie they were in.” “My #MeToo story,” Lovato says, “is me telling somebody that somebody did this to me, and they never got in trouble for it. She told an adult, she says, but nothing happened, and the two actors had to continue working together. The perpetrator was another actor, whom she does not name. She was 15, working for Disney at the time. “Sorry!”Īmid the true confessions and matching, tie-dyed sweatsuits, Lovato discloses a shattering event: “I lost my virginity in a rape,” she says. On the question of whether she’s fully recovered-Lovato now drinks in moderation and is “getting into weed,” as her best friend puts it-only Elton John is skeptical. They all testify to Lovato’s bravery in asking for help and her indomitable spirit. Lovato’s new manager, Scooter Braun-the impresario notorious for feuding with Taylor Swift and launching Justin Bieber-also makes an appearance. ![]() The celebrity talking heads who endorse Lovato’s comeback include Elton John her predecessor in power-vocal pop Christina Aguilera and Will Ferrell, whose 2020 film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga she appeared in-her first acting work after the O.D. When she woke up in the hospital, Lovato recalls, her vision was so altered that she couldn’t recognize her sister at her bedside. Her former assistant Jordan Jackson recounts calling 911 on the night a drug dealer left a blue Lovato for dead in her bedroom. The stakes feel horribly high: Many other charismatic celebrities, like Prince, Tom Petty, Lil Peep, and Mac Miller, have died of overdoses involving fentanyl in recent years, and Lovato almost did, too. She kept her escalating drug use a secret from friends. After her first rehab stint, she explains, Lovato was sober for years before deciding to experiment with drinking and smoking again. ![]() She is matter-of-fact about her drug problem.
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