An American actor, songwriter, and popular TV personality, Demi Lovato first rose to prominence on the Disney Channel. However, as a seventh-grader, life was not that easy for this child actress, as she has been the victim of bullying, so much so that she eventually opted to be home-schooled.
The Childhood Trauma
The 18-year old celebrity came clean about her pre-teen trauma, following in the footsteps of other bullied stars Solange Knowles, Minnie Driver, and Jenny McCarthy. Best known for her roles in Camp Rock and Sonny With A Chance, Lovato stated that being subjected to extreme bullying as a 12-year old, she was forced to leave school; and that’s not all, the struggle was so intense that even to this day, she has not fully recovered from it, and the hard times come back to haunt her. As she puts it, she was keeping all the anguish bottled up within, and one day when she was in the bathroom, and the lights went out, she could not turn them on since she had to have a key in a separate part of the school. She just called up her mom and vented out that she did not want to go to school anymore. It must have been a difficult time, and what’s worse, she had to battle it all by herself.
In a series of interviews, she has revealed that people used to call her names, shame her for being fat, and so on. She asserts that while people often believe that words do not mean much, they can, on the contrary, has a huge impact on our psyche, particularly that of a child, and she has also experienced that negative impact. In a desperate attempt to cope with bullying, Lovato admittedly went through periods of cutting, anorexia, bulimia, etc., until she decided to cut herself off the toxic environment that has been severely affecting her mental and physical health.
Unexpected Friendship With Selena Gomez
Eventually, she went on to say that when she looked back, she felt perhaps what led to her being bullied was the fact that she has led a very different lifestyle (as she was a child artist) as compared to other school-going kids. However, there is some good in everything- and even the hard times led to a positive outcome when she ended up learning at home with a famous friend, Selena Gomez. They were both home-schooled together, which made them great friends, and that friendship was very much intact until recently!
Bullying- A Social Evil With Far-Reaching Consequences
Bullying can be a traumatic experience, especially when one is young and vulnerable, as it is a crucial period of one’s life when students are building their identity and self-image. It also affects how their views about the world are shaped. More often than not, the person being bullied feels like they are being singled out, and they end up questioning why they are being punished for no fault of theirs.
Parents and caregivers should always keep an eye out to sense if their child is being bullied at school (or anywhere else, for that matter) and take strict measures against it. Bullying leaves you scared and scarred for life, which is not desirable for any child in the world.