Demi Lovato
American musician, Demi Lovato, has said she was raped as a teenager while working for the Disney Channel.
The 28-year-old revealed in her documentary ‘Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil’ that the person faced no consequences after she came forward, the BBC reported.
The singer does not say who the offender was, only that she “had to see this person all the time” afterwards.
The documentary was shown at the South by Southwest virtual festival.
“My MeToo story is me telling somebody that someone did this to me and they never got in trouble for it,” says Demi Lovato in the documentary, according to Variety’s review.
“I’ve just kept it quiet because I’ve always had something to say, and I’m tired of opening my mouth,” she added.
The YouTube docuseries tackles issues in Demi Lovato’s life such as trauma, addiction and her relapse into a drug overdose in 2018.
She speaks about her alleged rape, saying: “We were hooking up but I said – hey, this is not going any farther.
“And that didn’t matter to them, they did it anyways. And I internalised it and I told myself it was my fault because I still went in the room with him.”
She says she coped through self-harm, and going through the eating disorder bulimia.
In the series, she also talks about a “promise ring” which was worn by some young stars including herself and the Jonas Brothers, as a commitment to only have sex after marriage.
“So what, I’m supposed to come out to the public after saying I have a promise ring? Six months later, I’m supposed to say, well I had sex, even though it was rape? Some people aren’t going to see it that way,” she stated.