Demi Lovato got real about rehab during the Sonny with a Chance virtual reunion
One of the most unexpected bright spots amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has been the virtual reunions of our favorite TV shows. Demi Lovato teamed up with her Sonny with a Chance costars for a Zoom call, and she got real about what she’s been up to since leaving the show, calling out her times in rehab. But the moment wasn’t without some LOLs.
Lovato was joined by fellow Disney Channel alumni Tiffany Thornton, Allisyn Snyder, Doug Brochu, Sterling Knight, Audrey Whitby, Matthew Scott Montgomery, Shayne Topp, and Damien Haas. Snyder, who played Zora, asked what the cast has been up to since the show ended in 2011.
“Rehab! Several times!” Lovato responded, without missing a beat.
Her costars started laughing, as did Lovato. But they were also quick to remind her about her recent triumphs. “It’s not just rehab!” said Montgomery, who appeared in the Sonny With a Chance spinoff, So Random. “You also performed at the Grammys!”
Others also called out her National Anthem performance at the Super Bowl this year. Later on in the chat, Lovato got even more candid about her experiences on the set of the show, which she left after two seasons when she was 19 years old. Afterward, the rest of the cast joined So Random.
Lovato told Thornton, who played Tawni Hart, how she inspired her as a fellow young woman in the public eye.
“When I went away to treatment for the first time, you were my biggest inspiration coming out of it because you dealt with all of those pressures of being a woman on TV,” Lovato told Thornton. “I looked at that as, ‘I wish I had that so bad.’ Yes, I probably was happier in my head with whatever I looked like at the time. But I’m so much happier now with the mentality that you have. I look back now and I’m like, ‘Man, it’s a shame that we wasted any energy on what we wore on set.’”
Lovato also revealed that she was “miserable” during her time starring on Sonny With a Chance, saying she “wasn’t sleeping” and was angry at being “overworked.”
“When I left [the show], you don’t expect your show to go on without you, but it did,” she said. “But I couldn’t have been happier for everybody…I just wasn’t in a period of time when I was ready to be on camera again. I could not go back into that environment and there were other things that factored into it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-idvmFHoaO
The “I’m Ready” singer also opened up about struggling with an eating disorder at that time. Thornton recalled how Lovato’s dressing room was “98 degrees everyday.” Lovato then quipped, “I had an eating disorder and I was underweight and freezing!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-iNfwaHDO0
All joking aside, Lovato explained that her time starring as Sonny remains close to her heart. She hopes to return to acting now that she’s in a better space—though a Sonny with a Chance reboot seems unlikely. She said, “I had the best time with you guys and when I think about the show, I miss you guys.”
Check out the full reunion below for so many moments between the former castmates.
And FYI, Sonny with a Chance is now streaming on Disney+, so you can keep the nostalgia buzz going.
