Demi Lovato On Why She Was ‘Bummed She Was A Disney Kid’

In her new documentary “Child Star,” Demi Lovato opened up about her mixed feelings toward her Disney stardom.

The actress began her career at a young age, gaining fame as a child actress and singer. Her early breakthrough came with her role in the Disney Channel’s “Camp Rock,” where she played the lead role of Mitchie Torres.

Despite the success and widespread recognition she gained as a Disney Channel star, Demi Lovato revealed that she was “secretly bummed” about being with Disney and not Nickelodeon.

In her documentary, Demi Lovato told Kenan Thompson that she was “secretly bummed she was a Disney kid because she never got slimed.”

Slime, a typically green, semi-viscous substance, has been closely associated with Nickelodeon ever since its debut on “You Can’t Do That On Television.” It is commonly poured over someone’s head as a form of either humiliation or celebration, a ritual known as getting slimed.

While some may look at it as an embarrassing thing, Keenan Thompson said he loved being on Nickelodeon because they could act like “punks” and play pranks on one another.

“I was a huge fan of Nickelodeon for that reason,” Thompson told Lovato in the new Hulu documentary. “‘Double Dare’ was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen [and] I wanted that.”

Thompson and Lovato’s discussion about Nickelodeon versus Disney comes just months after several former Nickelodeon cast and crew members appeared in a docuseries titled “Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” in which they accused the network, Dan Schneider, and Brian Peck of various forms of misconduct.

Also, in her new documentary, “Child Star,” Demi Lovato revealed that during her teenage years, she would be bullied by popular girls who wrote in the bathroom, “Demi’s a whore.”

“I remember going to lunch, and everybody was staring at me,” she recalled. “They had signed a suicide petition saying I should kill myself, and it was passed around, and people signed it.”

“It was so extremely hurtful, and that was a part of my motivation to follow my dreams because it would get me out of Texas,” she added.

She recalls telling herself then, “I’m going to become so famous they can’t escape my name.” And she did just that.

“The turning point for our family was when Demi auditioned for the Jonas Brothers’ show,” Lovato’s mom said in “Child Star.”

“I was so excited I couldn’t believe they were considering me for the role,” Lovato added, but, unfortunately, she didn’t get it. “I was so close, I had gotten my hopes up so high, Disney said even though you didn’t get this one, we still want to see you for two other roles.”

Demi landed the leading role in Disney Channel’s “Camp Rock,” before starring in “Princess Protection Program” and headlining her own Disney series, “Sonny With a Chance.”

Prior to “Child Star”‘s debut on Hulu, Demi Lovato sat down with The Hollywood Reporter, and she recalled being “filled with gratitude” during her teen years.

“It was very much the honeymoon phase of my career, right before the train got moving in a way where I couldn’t pump the brakes,” she said. “I think I’d passed the threshold of what I could withstand emotionally and physically and I didn’t realize that child stardom could be traumatic — and it isn’t traumatic for everyone, but for me, it was.”

By her late teens, she was suffering from body image concerns, self-esteem issues, and mental health pressures. “I think about people in the wardrobe department on my TV show because I’d go in there in bad moods all the time, and I worry about guest stars that came on or the other actors or the people during ‘Camp Rock 2,'” she recalled. “And it’s easy to excuse that behavior because I was so young and in so much pain, but I’m really remorseful, and that’s a guilt that stays with you forever.”

Demi Lovato has turned her personal struggles into a compelling platform for advocacy. As a prominent advocate for mental health awareness, recovery, and self-acceptance, she leverages her experiences to help challenge and dismantle the stigma surrounding these issues.

“Child Star” is now streaming on Hulu.