Demi Lovato’s newly-released Hulu documentary, Child Star, sheds light on how she navigated growing up in the spotlight.
Demi, who uses she/they pronouns, starred in several popular Disney Channel TV shows and movies during her teen years, including the Camp Rock films, Princess Protection Program, and Sonny with a Chance.
Demi was just 15 when Camp Rock started filming. It was released in 2008, and the following year, Princess Protection Program and Sonny with a Chance came out. Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam premiered in 2010.
Among the several shocking revelations about Demi’s child stardom made in the film, one clip that is attracting widespread attention online sees the singer recalling their hectic Disney schedule.
In the clip, Demi recounts, “It started out [with] me booking Camp Rock, filming Camp Rock, and then going back to LA, filming a season of my TV show — actually, no, I filmed Camp Rock, then I worked on my album.”
“I wrote it, recorded it within about a month. And then I went on tour. After tour, I filmed a season of my TV show Sonny with a Chance. Then I filmed Princess Protection Program. After Princess Protection Program, I started making another album. Then I toured. Then I filmed Camp Rock 2. I worked on another album, another season of my TV show,” she says.
“It was back-to-back-to-back-to-back. Nobody really knew how to stop the machine. The train just kept moving. Like, there were never any pauses,” Demi adds.
The documentary then features a clip of young Demi noting that they’d been “touring every day since June 1st.” “Is it the 5th of September? It could be the 5th of September today. I don’t know,” they say.
Reacting to the “intense” schedule, several viewers noted that they felt really sorry for Demi, especially given how young they were.
“i hope people really grasp how insane this is, because most adults wouldn’t even be able to keep up with this back to back schedule of creating and performing… plus she was an actual child who was still learning and developing mentally at that time,” one person tweeted.
“I will always love Demi but damn, I feel for them :( that Disney schedule can break you. I know it got bad, worse than we can imagine but I’m happy they’re still around and in a better place,” someone said.
“Holy crap. That is intense for someone so young,” one TikTok user wrote, while another person echoed, “this is actually insane for a teenager to go through.”
“This just stressed me out so badly,” one more tweet read.
Meanwhile, several users were reminded of fellow Disney child star Miley Cyrus’s intense daily schedule during her teen years, which she detailed last year while promoting her single “Used to Be Young.”
While she was aged “12 or 13,” Miley noted that her daily routine went a little something like this: “5:30 a.m. — Hair and Makeup in my hotel. 7 a.m. — we get picked up. 7:15 a.m. — I’m on the news. 7:45 — I have another live interview. 8:15 — another interview. 8:45 — another interview. 9:30 to 11 a.m. — meeting with editors, back to the hotel… The next day starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 7:30 p.m. when I fly home to probably go to Hannah [Montana] — that’s on a Saturday and then Monday be back at work in the morning.”
Citing Miley’s hectic schedule now in response to Demi’s, one person tweeted, “I was shocked when Miley shared her schedule during Disney in her Used to be Young series, kids should not be working that much.”
“This reminds me of when Miley shared what her typical schedule looked like while she was doing Hannah Montana,” someone else wrote.