Demi Lovato reveals the lesson she learned from her Disney Channel daysDemi Lovato reveals the lesson she learned from her Disney Channel days

Not long ago, Demi Lovato thrilled Disney Channel kids everywhere by appearing onstage with the Jonas Brothers to sing Camp Rock songs. In a recent interview she says being part of the Disney Channel taught her an important lesson — which wasn’t exactly positive.

Speaking to PAPER magazine, Demi says, “I learned that I had to hustle. Sometimes looking back, I wish that hustle culture wasn’t as big as it was, because I feel like I would have had an easier time. I was just under so much pressure and so much stress at such a young age that it just wasn’t healthy.”

“But in that, I learned that if you want, hustle culture sometimes does pay off. But it comes with a price,” she adds. “I think that was the biggest lesson for me. You can work yourself into the ground, but you’re going to have to sacrifice something, and that something might be your mental health.”

“It was a lot,” she admits. “But I also knew that at any given moment someone was there and they could take my place, so I worked really hard for it. It’s just, at what cost?”

When PAPER suggests that perhaps Demi and her fellow stars, like the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, were the “last generation of that hustle culture,” she agrees.

“Yeah, I think we were,” she says. “I think there are better protections put in place for them now, or at least I’d hope so.”

Demi’s new album, It’s Not That Deep, due out in October, marks a return to pop music for her. Or, as she tells PAPER, “Popvato is back, and let’s have some fun. Period.”

 

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