Raven-Symoné and Demi Lovato had an open conversation as part of the new documentary Child starCo-directed by Lovato.
“You were a guest star on my show Sonny with a chance,” the “Confident” singer recalled when the two sat down together, referring to the Disney Channel show she starred in between 2009 and 2011.
“When we first spoke on the phone to talk about this project, I said, ‘I saw you on That’s so Ravensuch an inspiration…'” Lovato continued, turning to Raven-Symoné.
“You said, ‘Bitch, I was on your show!’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that was her.’ But it was part of my breakup that I don’t even remember that much of my show that I was on. But I remember how difficult I was to work with because I was in so much pain and it hurt me so much.”
Over the years, Lovato has spoken openly about her mental health and addiction issues and has, among other things, been in inpatient psychological treatment five times.
Although Raven-Symoné admitted that working with Lovato was not easy, she expressed sympathy for the feelings the two were going through at the time.
“I mean… you weren’t the nicest person. You didn’t say, ‘Welcome!’ You didn’t do that,” said the Cheetah Girl said the star. “But since I’m the type of person who’s been in the industry as long as you have, and I understand the glazed look, I didn’t hold it against you. I just thought, ‘Something’s going on.'”
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Child star features Lovato in conversation with a number of celebrities whose careers began in childhood, including Drew Barrymore, Kenan Thompson, Christina Ricci, Alyson Stoner and Jojo Siwa.
“I didn’t realize that fame could be traumatic as a child – and it’s not traumatic for everyone, but it was for me,” Lovato said. The Hollywood Reporter in a cover interview about the motivations for making the film.
Child star is now streaming on Hulu.