The conversations came after Lovato's 2015 song, 'Cool for the Summer,' came out.
Demi Lovato is recalling a pivotal moment in her life. While speaking to SiriusXM, the 30-year-old singer opened up about how she came out to her mom and stepdad.
"I came from a Christian background and grew up queer and didn't tell people until I felt comfortable with it," she said. "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. It took me a while."
Lovato first spoke about her coming out conversation with her stepdad, Eddie De La Garza, which happened in 2015 when her song, "Cool for the Summer" was out.
"I released 'Cool for the Summer' before I came out to my parents," she said with a laugh, before reciting some of the song's "very obvious" lyrics such as "Got a taste for the cherry I just need to take a bite."
"It's, like, very obvious, but I didn't feel like I was ready," she explained. "One day I was 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.' I was like, 'I like girls too.' And he was like, 'Yeah, I know. You have 'Cool for the Summer' out.'"
As for her mom, Dianna De La Garza, Lovato said she "kind of had the same reaction in a way."
"I was getting ready to go on a date with a girl, and I didn't know if I would be photographed or what would happen and I really liked this girl. I was like, 'I think it's time to tell my mom in case it becomes serious,'" she said. "I sat my mom down and I was like, 'I need to talk to you.' I said, '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 almost started crying and was like, 'I just want you to be happy.'"
Her mom's response was "so valuable and so appreciated," Lovato said, because "there are so many parents that don't respond that way and it breaks my heart."
It's with that in mind that Lovato uses her social media to be outspoken about the LGBTQ+ community.
"Providing that energy and being a part of the community is so important to me, and providing a safe space is so important too," she said. "That's why I post on social media all the time about being queer and what it means. Things that are in the public eye, what's going on, current events, I post about it because it's really important to me."
Lovato's latest comments came the month after she explained why, after coming out as nonbinary in 2021, she stopped using they/them pronouns exclusively the following year and added she/her to her accepted pronouns.
"I constantly had to educate people and explain why I identified with those pronouns. It was absolutely exhausting," Lovato told GQ Spain. "I just got tired."
It's "for that very reason," though, that Lovato feels that "it is important to continue spreading the word."
"I face this every day. For example, in public toilets. Having to access the women's bathroom, even though I don't completely identify with it. I would feel more comfortable in a genderless bathroom," she said. "Or it also happens when filling out forms, such as government documents or any other where you have to specify your gender. You only have two options, male and female, and I feel like none of that makes sense to me. I see myself conditioned to choose a woman because there are no more. I think this has to change. Hopefully, with time there will be more options."
"It will be worth it as long as there are people who tell me that I am an inspiration to them or that I have helped them learn more about themselves and feel more comfortable in their skin," Lovato added. "That's the most meaningful thing to me."
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