NEWSDemi Lovato Admits It Took Her a While to Come Out to Her Mom and Stepdad: 'I Didn't Feel Like I Was Ready'
Jul. 18 2023, Published 10:25 a.m. ET
Demi Lovato recalled the moment she came out to her mom and stepdad when she was in her mid-twenties.
"I came from a Christian background and grew up q**** and didn't tell people until I felt comfortable with it," she said while speaking to SiriusXM. "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."
The brunette beauty released her hit song "Cool for the Summer" in 2015 — but she hadn't told her family the true meaning behind the bop.
"It's, like, very obvious, but I didn't feel like I was ready," she shared, referring to some of the lyrics such as "Got a taste for the cherry I just need to take a bite." "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.'"
Fortunately, the Disney Channel alum's mom, Dianna De La Garza, had a similar reaction to the news.
"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 recalled. "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.'"
Lovato knows how lucky she is to have such a supportive inner circle since "there are so many parents that don't respond that way and it breaks my heart."
Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!
Over the years, Lovato has used her platform to continue to speak out 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."
