Demi Lovato has revealed why she changed her pronouns from they/them to she/her.
Lovato, 32, became a household name after starring in the hit Disney film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010).
She’s also had a successful music career, with it being estimated she’s sold over 24 million records in the U.S.
Over the years, Lovato has been incredibly open with fans when it comes to her gender identity and s**uality.
The ‘Heart Attack’ singer took to Instagram in 2021 and revealed that she identifies as non-binary.
“Today is a day I’m so happy to share more of my life with you all – I am proud to let you know that I identify as non-binary and will officially be changing my pronouns to they/them moving forward,” the pop star declared.
“This has come after a lot of healing and self-reflective work. I’m still learning and coming into myself, and I don’t claim to be an expert or a spokesperson.”
Lovato opened up to actress Jane Fonda on Fire Drill Friday, discussing her upbringing and its effects on her gender identity.
She told the star: “Growing up in Dallas, Texas, in the South, being Christian, there were a lot of norms that were already pushed on to me when it came to s**uality and gender.
“And I’m a very fluid person, I’m a very free-spirited, open person.”
The ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ artist described her early life as being ‘very confusing,’ with it being ‘not very open’ where she lived in the South.
Fortunately, it appears as though Lovato is much more comfortable in opening up about her gender identity and s**uality nowadays – revealing during YouTube Pride that she was ‘grateful’ to her family members for ‘using my pronouns.’
Lovato also shared with fans that the change had come as she was beginning to learn more about herself.
In an interview with the music podcast Audacy Check-In, the ‘Cool for the Summer’ singer explained: “Since I’ve learned about gender identity more and learning about being non-binary or gender non-conforming, I’ve used this time to really explore what feels right to me.
“And after a year and a half of exploration, I realized it was time to let the world know that it feels weird to me when I get called a ‘she’ or a ‘her.’
“I understand that people might have a hard time adjusting to it because it is something new, but I want to encourage people to keep trying and that I understand that it’s a process to get used to.”
Lovato admitted that sometimes, she will even ‘mess up’ regarding pronouns.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Lovato revealed that she had formed close friendships with people within the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I used to identify family as blood-related, and now my queer family has become more family than friends,” she said.
“And I feel like I now have two families. I have my blood relatives and then I have my queer family, and that family to me is the chosen family.”
A year before coming out about her gender identity, Lovato’s engagement to actor and singer Max Ehrich came to an end.
Later, the ‘La La Land’ singer told Glamour she believed that their breakup was a blessing in disguise.
She told the publication: “When I started getting older, I started realizing how queer I really am. This past year I was engaged to a man, and when it didn’t work, I was like, ‘This is a huge sign.’
“I thought I was going to spend my life with someone. Now that I wasn’t going to, I felt this sense of relief that I could live my truth.”
During an appearance at the 19th Represents Summit, Lovato added: “And when I said goodbye to that relationship, I also said goodbye to everything that was holding me back from being my most authentic self.”
The pop vocalist also told the outlet that at the time, she wasn’t sure how her journey of gender exploration would evolve.
“There might be a time where I identify as trans. I don’t know what this looks like for me. There might be a time where I identify as non-binary and gender-nonconforming my entire life,” she explained.
“Or maybe there’s a period of time when I get older that I identify as a woman, I don’t know what that looks like, but for me, in this moment right now, this is how I identify.”
Yet over time, it appears Lovato has become more accepting of people using she/her pronouns when referring to her.
The ‘Skyscraper’ artist appeared on the Sprout Podcast and explained: “I’ve actually adopted the pronouns of ‘she/her’ again.
“Especially last year, my energy was balanced in my masculine and feminine energy so that when I was faced with the choice of walking into a bathroom and it said ‘women’ and ‘men.’
“I didn’t feel like there was a bathroom for me because I didn’t feel necessarily like a woman. I didn’t feel like a man. I just felt like a human.”
Lovato added that she had also been ‘feeling more feminine.’
“But I think what’s important is, like, nobody’s perfect,” she concluded. Everyone messes up pronouns at some point, and especially when people are learning. It’s just all about respect.”