Interview

Demi Lovato Realized She Was Queer After Watching Selma & Sarah Michelle Kiss In ‘Cruel Intentions’

AP
Demi Lovato 'Twilight' Film premiere, Los Angeles, America - 17 Nov 2008
Demi Lovato Singer Demi Lovato poses as she arrives at Disney's Concert For Hope, a benefit concert supporting cancer research and treatment programs of City Of Hope, in Los AngelesDisney Concert For Hope, Los Angeles, USA
Demi LovatoDisney's City of Hope Benefit Concert, Universal City, California, America - 14 Sep 2008Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato were just some of the tween stars who performed at Disney’s Concert For Hope Benefit Concert at Universal City. The aim of the concert was to aid the cancer research and treatment programs carried out by the City of Hope cancer centre. The star-studded performance continues a trend of charitable giving to the organisation from both Disney and Miss Cyrus; last year Disney donated $1 from every ticket sold during Cyrus’ highly successful “Best of Both Worlds” concert tour - raising more than $1 million. View Gallery View Gallery 25 Photos.
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Demi Lovato admitted she ‘should not have been watching’ ‘Cruel Intentions’ when she was younger, but did, and ‘really liked’ the make out scene between Selma Blair and Sarah Michelle Gellar, in a new interview.

Demi Lovato, 28, is giving credit to the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions when it comes to realizing she was queer. The singer sat down for an interview with Queer Eye‘s Tan France during Facebook’s Coming Out 2020 event, which aired on Oct. 9, and when he asked her to describe the moment she realized she was “queer in general”, she brought up her experience in watching the famous kissing scene between Selma Blair and Sarah Michelle Gellar in the film. “It was definitely when I was young and should not have been watching Cruel Intentions but I did and it was that scene where they made out on the park lawn,” she told Tan in the interview.

“I was just like ‘Oh wait a minute — I really like that, I wanna try it,” she added while laughing. “And then when I was like 17 I did get down with that and that’s when I knew. That’s the tea.”

Selma Blair, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Selma Blair and Sarah Michelle Gellar in the scene from ‘Cruel Intentions’ that helped Demi Lovato realize she’s queer. (Everett Collection)

The Cruel Intentions scene Demi’s referring to got a lot of attention when it was first released so Demi’s surely not the only viewer who was impacted by it! In the epic movie moment, Sarah’s character, Kathryn Merteuil was teaching Selma’s character, Cecile Caldwell, how to kiss and get to first base. “Haven’t you ever practiced on one of your girlfriends?” Kathryn asks before they lock lips in the scene. Once it was over, Cecile simply but effectively says, “That was cool.”

In addition to discussing her experience in watching Cruel Intentions, Demi admitted to Tan that she started telling people she was queer around the age of 17. “I pretty much told all of my friends and my older sister when I was 17,” she said. “They all knew before I brought it to my parents and then to the public. Those were my three phases: Friends, parents, public.”

Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato started telling people she was queer when she was 17. (AP)

She also talked about using her songwriting talents to express her feelings about other women. “There were times I wrote songs about girls that my fans thought I wrote about guys,” she explained. “I’m surprised that some of them didn’t figure out that some of the songs were for certain people. I was sharing it with the world, yet I wasn’t being completely obvious with what I was talking about. Music was my safe space.”

Demi has previously described herself  as “very fluid” when it comes to her sexuality and openly been involved with both women and men. Her latest relationship was with actor Max Ehrich, 29, who she started dating earlier this year. They were engaged by July but sadly, by Sept. 24, things were over between them.