Demi Lovato Blames ‘The Patriarchy’ For ‘Holding' Them Back From Growing

Demi Lovato has hit out against 'the patriarchy' for holding her back from growing as a person.

They recently revealed themselves to be non-binary and will now use they/them pronouns as it best reflected who they felt on the inside.

But this epic step might never have happened if they continued listening to the system that controlled them.

Speaking to Jane Fonda on the Fire Drill Fridays livestream, Demi explained how difficult it is breaking from the mould.

"If I had listened to the patriarchy, my life would have never changed, my pronouns would have never changed," they said.

"I probably would have been married to a man with kids doing the thing that I was raised to believe that I should do.

"After years of living my life for other people, trying to make myself smaller for the patriarchy - they run the industry, they are at the centre of everything.

"When I realised that, I thought, 'What are the ways that the patriarchy has been holding me back?'. And for me, it was putting me in a box telling [me], 'You are a female, this is what you're supposed to like, this is what you're supposed to do, don't dream bigger and don't speak louder."

Demi has touched on this sentiment in their music, specifically the collaboration with Christina Aguilera called 'Fall in Line'.

In the track, Demi sings with the fellow former Disney pop star: "It's just the way it is/And maybe it's never gonna change/But I got a mind to show my strength/And I got a right to speak my mind/And I'm gonna pay for this/They're gonna burn me at the stake/But I got a fire in my veins/I wasn't made to fall in line."

The 28-year-old also explained how their drug overdose back in 2018 served as another trigger to live their life more authentically.

Lovato said the overdose and subsequent three strokes and a heart attack was a massive 'wake up call'.

They said: "I feel like the reason why that happened was because I was ignoring my truth, and I was suppressing who I really am in order to please stylists or team members or this or that, or even fans that wanted me to be the sexy, feminine pop star in the leotard and look a certain way, you know?"

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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