Singer and actress Demi Lovato got her rise to fame when she joined Disney Channel as Sonny in Sonny with a Chance, as well as the Disney original movie series Camp Rock. However, she has since branched off and become completely dedicated to her singing career, coming out with albums such as “Confident,” “Demi,” and the most successful one, “Unbroken.” She has grown to have the reputation of a confident, strong and somewhat eccentric woman. However, what the media has not realized is that Lovato has struggled with alcoholism for years, but kept it hidden from the public eye.   

Celebrating her six year anniversary of being sober, Lovato opened up about her silent struggle with alcohol throughout her life.

“You just have to take it one day at a time, some days are easier than others and some days you forget about drinking and using, but for me, I work on my physical health, which is important, but my mental health as well,” Lovato revealed in a recent interview with People.

She began speaking publicly about her addiction after winning the Spirit of Sobriety award.

After making the difficult decision to go to rehab, Lovato was given the choice by her manager to either keep the whole situation private or to share it publicly to try and inspire others to take action against their addiction. She chose the latter in hopes that her fame could help others who might be struggling and are too afraid to come forward.

Before gaining her sobriety, Lovato was hooked on drugs such as cocaine in accompaniment with her alcoholism. She recently came out with a second documentary called ‘Simply Complicated’ where she opens up about her sobriety and her drug abuse starting as young as 17.

“I didn’t know that she was on cocaine even while she was on Disney but when she came out and said it afterwards I was so surprised. I never thought of her as doing drugs I always just imagined her as a Disney star.  It’s really good that she is sober now though I’m really proud of her actually because she used to be one of my biggest idols as a kid so I’m glad it worked out for her,” sophomore Jacqui Moss said.

Like Moss, many fans were unaware that someone as young as Lovato, and a Disney star nonetheless, could be a cocaine addict and alcoholic.  

Luckily for Lovato, the star had people surrounding her who cared enough to put their foot down and make her change her ways.  Her team and manager as well as her parents agreed that if she didn’t change they were going to walk out on her, which crushed Lovato.

“I worked with everyone on the team — business managers, agents, attorneys, everybody, to say, ‘If Phil walks, we walk,’” manager Phil McIntyre said in an interview.  

This and the Lovato’s parents banning her from seeing her little sister until she got sober finally forced the singer to face her problems. For Lovato, she finally gained her sobriety but it took lot’s of hard work and help from the people around her.