Shortly after coming out as non-binary, Demi Lovato sat down with Glenn Close and Anderson Cooper for Bring Change to Mind's A Conversation Starter livestream, and described facing their sexuality amid public scrutiny.
"I had suppressed so much of myself over the years. Growing up in the South and being raised Christian, I had these beliefs I had been told," Lovato tells Close and Cooper in a clip obtained by People. "When I came out to L.A., I knew I was queer. But, I think that a part of my freedom is acknowledging the queer part of myself."
"Because for so many years I shoved it down and I tried to fit it into a mold of what I thought society wanted from me," they added. "And so much freedom in my life today has come from just me living my authentic truth."
The 28-year-old singer's experience battling an eating disorder also factored into their decision to speak their truth.
"My eating disorder taught me to make myself smaller. So that I could please the rest of the world," they said. "And, I realized that I have a loud voice and I'm a performer and me living my truth in front of the world is what's going to make me thrive and happy and so that's what I do. It is a thin line…"
"I could go back to that life very quickly and I don't want to so I live the loudest, fullest life that I can today," they added. "And, it's much more colorful in my house because of it!"
Tickets for the Bring Change to Mind livestream event featuring Lovato, Close and Cooper are available for $25 here.
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