Demi Lovato has spoken out about her ‘controlling’ former management team

Recovered eating disorder sufferer Demi Lovato has recalled how her former management would monitor bank statements to ensure she wasn’t buying food.

Demi Lovato candidly discussed her past eating disorder on Ellen this week, sharing that her former management team’s control over her life and diet exacerbated her mental health.

Following her revelation in February that her eating disorder led to her near-fatal overdose, Lovato, 27, told host Ellen DeGeneres that her former team, helmed by Phil McIntyre, would take her away her food so she couldn’t eat and phone so she couldn’t place orders.

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DeGeneres even noted that Lovato’s team would take sugar out of her dressing room when she visited, of which Lovato was unaware.

“I didn’t know that until today too, but I lived a life for the past six years that I felt wasn’t my own because I struggled really hard with an eating disorder, yes, and that was my primary problem and then it turned into other things,” the Anyone singer shared.

Demi Lovato gave a heartbreaking account of what led to her overdose on Ellen DeGeneres. Picture: YouTube.

Explaining what led to her relapse after six years sober, the star said she “wasn’t getting the help she needed” from the people around her.

“Things with the eating disorder were getting bad … Over the years it progressively got worse and worse with people checking what my orders at Starbucks were on my bank statements, just little things like that led me to being really really unhappy.”

She said she reached out, but was told she was being “selfish”.

“My life, I just felt it was so … and I hate to use this word, but I felt it was controlled, by so many people around me.”

Lovato recently performed the US national anthem at the Super Bowl. Picture: Getty Images.

The Sorry Not Sorry songstress revealed that not only would her team monitor her coffee order, they would take her phone so she couldn’t dial room service.

They wouldn’t allow her to eat fruit either because of added sugar, though on her birthday they would make an exception.

“For many years, I didn’t even have a birthday cake. I had a watermelon cake, where you cut your watermelon into the shape of a cake and you put fat-free whipped cream on top and that was your cake,” an emotional Lovato recalled.

“So for years I did this and it kind of became this ongoing joke, but I just really wanted birthday cake.”

The 27-year-old star reflected on how she was never allowed a proper birthday cake. Picture: Getty Images.

In May 2019, Lovato signed with Scooter Braun, who also represents Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.

“I have a new team, and Scooter Braun, my manager, gave me the best birthday cake,” she told DeGeneres.

“I spent it with Ariana Grande, who is one of my good friends, and we just had the best birthday, and I just remember crying because I was finally eating cake with a manager that didn’t need anything from me and that loved me for who I am and supported my journey.”

“I think at some point it becomes dangerous to try to control someone’s food when they’re in recovery from an eating disorder,” Lovato continued.

The Grammy Award-nominated artist, who will release new single I Love Me Friday, also touched upon her struggles with drug addiction and sobriety.

And she reveals how, when her prior management team stopped working with her, it left her feeling abandoned and further fuelled her substance abuse.

“When they left, they totally played on that fear and I felt completely abandoned and I drank,” she explains. “That night I went to a party and there was other stuff there and it was only three months before I ended up in the hospital with an OD.”

“Ultimately, I made the decisions that got me to where I am today. It was my actions that put me in the position that I’m in.”

Sharing a snippet of the heartfelt interview on Instagram afterwards, the star wrote “I was so emotional I cried when I walked off stage.”

She also thanked the talk show host for the opportunity to share her story.

“Thank you Ellen for providing me a platform to speak my truth. Love you always and I’m so grateful for our chat today.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced here with permission.