Demi Lovato explains why she was ‘relieved’ to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder

Singer revealed bipolar disorder diagnosis in 2011

Demi Lovato has opened up about her bipolar diagnosis, and why she felt “relieved” to learn the cause of her “extreme lows”.

The 30-year-old singer spoke candidly about her mental health during the Hollywood & Mind Summit in Los Angeles this week, where she explained that it was a relief to be diagnosed because she spent “so many years struggling”.

“I was so relieved that I had finally had a diagnosis,” Lovato said, according to People. “I had spent so many years struggling, and I didn’t know why I was a certain way in dealing with depression at such extreme lows, when I seemingly had the world in front of me just ripe with opportunities.”

The “Confident” singer then recalled moments where she’d struggled to understand her feelings, such as when she was 15 years old and watching her fans wave to her out of the window of a tour bus.

According to Lovato, all she remembers is watching her fans and “crying,” and wondering why she was so “unhappy”.

“It was things like, I remember being 15 years old on a tour bus and watching fans follow my bus with posters and trying to get me to wave outside the window. And all I could do was just sit there and cry,” Lovato recalled. “And I remember being in the back of my tour bus watching my fans and crying and being like: ‘Why am I so unhappy?’”

Lovato was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011 after entering rehab. The then-19 year old shared the diagnosis shortly after, telling People at the time that, looking back, the diagnosis “[made] sense”.

Lovato’s new comments about their mental health come after they previously suggested in their 2021 Dancing with the Devil documentary that they were misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder.

“I came out to the public when I found out I was bipolar because I thought it put a reasoning behind my actions,” she revealed at the time.

However, while speaking at the Hollywood & Mind Summit, the singer said it was important for them to share their journey because they wanted to “help others”.

“I knew that if I could help others with their journey, then that’s exactly what I wanted to do,” she continued. “And so I decided to be open and honest about what I had finally learned about myself.”