Demi Lovato shares details of her approach to sober moderation in latest, tell-all interview with 'Paper'

Demi Lovato is no stranger to life in the spotlight – she did, after all, begin her career at the age of five, long before she knew the trajectory on which her talents would take her. Today, the Demi we know appears to have lived many lives in just 28 years. With sold-out tours, chart-topping singles, noteworthy on-screen and on-stage performances, die-hard fans, whirlwind romances, and increasingly public battles with addiction, mental health, and eating disorders, Lovato has torn her way through Hollywood with an air of radical honesty that most would shy away from. She is as beloved as she is notorious at times, and she is unflinching in her ability to share her trials and tribulations with her fans and the public in a vulnerable way.

And now… we’re seeing her like we’ve never seen her before. In anticipation of her upcoming YouTube documentary series, Dancing with the Devil, Lovato sat down with Paper Magazine to discuss many of the themes explored in the documentary: fame, addiction, recovery, love, loss, the pain of hitting rock bottom, and the at-times crippling pressure of battling her own demons under the watchful eye of the media and fans.

Notably, fans were especially interested in her admission that she now practices "sober moderation" – a concept which, for most addicts, is foreign (if not entirely frowned upon). If you’re not entirely sure what sober moderation entails, it simply means she is not "wholly" sober. Lovato shares that, for the past two years, she has drank in moderation, and smokes some marijuana.

"The way that I've come about it is, I went back to treatment after [the overdose], in 2019, after slipping up with substances,” she shares. “I had done so well with my eating disorder, in comparison to the years before. And when I went back, my therapist, my eating disorder specialist there, was like, 'How do you feel with food recovery?' And I was like, 'I feel really great, but I think it's because I've legalized so much.'"

Lovato seemingly knew this would be a controversial move, and explains that she took her time to arrive at this decision under the continued supervision of doctors. "I feel like I wanted to get a great understanding of it for myself before I told the world about it. And also, it's just really important to note that just because I am trying this doesn't mean it's for everybody. Just like the dogmatic views of complete sobriety, that isn't a one size fits all solution for everybody."

While this approach certainly wouldn’t work for everyone, Lovato notes that control “both in excess and as a lack” has been an ongoing pain point in her life. Professionally, it benefits her to be a perfectionist – as any artist can likely attest to, it pays to be increasingly regimented as it relates to your craft and performance. But on a personal level, it comes at a cost.

"In my career, it benefits me to be a perfectionist," she explains. "In my personal life, it definitely doesn't. Having been in recovery from eating disorders, body image and perfectionism are not friends in my eyes, and so it's been difficult to balance. But for the most part it's just something that you have to walk through with as much grace as possible."

Her latest series also arrives just ahead of a new album, appropriately titled Dancing with the Devil... The Art of Starting Over, which will be released on April 2nd. Lovato notes that while the album isn’t technically a soundtrack to the documentary, it kind of is.

"If you were to follow the track listing in order, it really goes to the way my life has played out over the last year."

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