Demi Lovato: I Wanted to Sabotage Myself

Demi Lovato opens up in the September issue of Cosmopolitan (Photo:TESH/Cosmopolitan)

Demi Lovato is Cosmopolitan’s September cover girl, and we’re wowed by her cool summer ‘do and her super fit frame. But beyond her look, the 22-year old pop star opens up about her drug-addled past, battling with confidence, and her relationship with Wilmer Valderrama as well as her ex, Joe Jonas. Lovato also doesn’t hold back when it comes to her fellow female pop stars.

“There are a lot of girls in pop. They have badass lyrics, but I feel like I’m the only person other than Rihanna and Nicki Minaj who isn’t afraid to say, ‘Try something on me and I’ll f—ing beat your ass,’” she tells Cosmopolitan. “There are people who can dress up and play the part, but their music doesn’t say it.”

Lovato also delved into her on/off relationship of five years with Valderrama. They started dating when she was 18 and he was 30, and she took the heat for most of their “off” time. “The only times we ever broke up were when I was relapsing, whether it was drugs or in a bad place and rebelling against everybody, not just him… People say that relapses happen before you use. Your mind starts setting up the relapse before you take that drink or that first hit. The times we’d broken up, I had already gone to that place of, Yeah, this is what’s happening. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I just wanted to sabotage everything around me so that I could sabotage myself.”

Lovato credits Valderrama for staying with her during some of her darkest times, even when people were warning him about her. “We started dating when I turned 18… Right after that, I went to rehab,” she told Cosmo. “People told him, she’s on a spiral, and you’re going to be sucked down with it.’ But he was like, ‘I’m not leaving. This is somebody I really care about.’ We relate on a lot of levels. I’ve seen a lot of shit. Shit people don’t know about. He’s seen a lot of stuff too.”

And don’t expect any jealousy from Valderrama — Lovato is open about her friendship with her former Camp Rock costars Nick and Joe Jonas, the latter of whom Levato briefly dated Joe prior to getting together with Valderrama.

“Nick and Wilmer get along great — Joe and Wilmer too. It’s weird. In the beginning, I was like, ‘Why the f— are you friends with Joe?’ He was like, ‘He’s a cool guy.’ Yeah, I know. I dated him.”

For more about Lovato, pick up the September issue of Cosmopolitan, on newsstands August 11.

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