In May, Demi Lovato released a rock version of her hit, “Cool For The Summer,” on a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s The Pulse, she told host Brady about the impact that the song had on her personal life. “I released ‘Cool for the Summer’ before I came out to my parents, and it’s very, it’s like, ‘Got a taste for the cherry, I just need to take a bite’–kind of lyrics,” said Demi, 30. “It’s like very obvious, but I didn’t feel like I was ready, and one day I was, you know, about to go to a show. I was sitting on a plane, and I was with my stepdad, who’s basically my dad, and I was like, ‘Hey, I need to tell you something,’ and I was like, ‘I like girls too,” and he was like, ‘Yeah, I know. You have ‘Cool for the Summer’ out.’ I was like, ‘Oh.'”
“My mom kind of had the same reaction in a way,” added Demi. “I was actually getting ready to go on a date with a girl, and I was like, you know, I didn’t know if I would be photographed or what would happen, and I really liked this girl, and I was like, ‘You know, I think it’s time to tell my mom in case it becomes serious,’ and so I sat my mom down, and I was like, ‘I need to talk to you,’ and I said, ‘You know, I am about to go on a date with a girl and I just wanted you to know and hear it from me that I do like girls too.’ She just, like, almost started crying and was like, ‘I just want you to be happy.'”
“To have that reaction from a parent is so valuable and so appreciated because there [are] so many parents that don’t respond that way, and it breaks my heart,” continued Lovato. “So, providing that energy and being a part of the community is so important to me, and providing a safe space is so important too. That’s why, you know, I post on social media all the time about just being queer and what it means and things that are in the public eye. You know, what’s going on, current events, I post about it because it’s really important to me, and I want, you know, 15-year-old you to feel like you’re appreciated and valued.”
Demi said that she came from a Christian background but grew up queer — and hid that for most of her life. She “didn’t tell people until, you know, I felt comfortable with it, but it took me until I was 25 to come out to my mom. At the time, I was bisexual, and then I realized I was pansexual, and so it took me a while.”
In a June interview with GQ Hype Spain, Demi – who came out as non-binary in May 2021 — explained why they began using the “she/her” pronouns instead of “they/them” exclusively. “I constantly had to educate people and explain why I identified with those pronouns. It was absolutely exhausting. And that is one of the reasons that have led me to also feel comfortable with the feminine pronoun. I just got tired,” said Lovato.
“It also happens when filling out forms, such as government documents or any other where you have to specify your gender,” she/they added. “You only have two options, male and female, and I feel like none of that makes sense to me,” she said. “I see myself conditioned to choose a woman because there are no more [options]. I think this has to change. Hopefully, with time there will be more options.”