Demi Lovato is confident she won’t go back to her old ways or her old boyfriends.
“I think it’s healthy to be able to start over with someone else,” Lovato, 24, told Glamour about her breakup with Wilmer Valderrama, from whom she split in June.
“Being sick was always a part of my relationship with him; I always had something wrong with me. I needed to let go of that,” she said, referencing her struggles with addiction and bulimia.
Lovato, who is rumored to be dating UFC fighter Luke Rockhold, added, “It was hard to depart from somebody who saw everything, but it may be nice to start fresh with somebody. Because that person I was when I was a lot younger is not who I am today.”
The former Disney star explained that the differences between herself now and in 2010, when she first started dating Valderrama, 36, are staggering.
“I feel healthy, I feel happy. Back then I felt an emptiness inside of me, and I reached for so many things — a person, a substance, a behavior — to fill that void. And now there’s not a void anymore,” she said.
The mental health advocate, who announced her co-ownership of CAST Centers last month, explained, “The void is filled by me taking care of myself … Getting sober was difficult. I went into rehab, I came out, and I didn’t stay sober. I still had issues occasionally. Now some days it’s difficult; some days it’s easy. But I like to focus on what I’m doing now, which is giving back. I’ve done interventions with people I’ve been close to.”
Despite her successes in overcoming bulimia and substance abuse, Lovato admits she still has triggers.
“Seeing cocaine in movies [is a trigger],” she confessed. “I’ve never watched ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’ I can’t. I don’t like to go out to clubs, because I find myself seeing remnants of drugs in the bathroom.”
However, one of Lovato’s body image triggers actually benefited her in the long run.
“I did the Victoria’s Secret Swim Special, and being surrounded by supermodels’ bodies was triggering to me,” she admitted. “I remember asking, ‘How do you maintain your figure?’ Some said, ‘I really have to work at it.’ Others said, ‘It’s genetics.’ It was interesting to hear that it wasn’t through unhealthy [behaviors]. It was a great learning experience. I still felt sexy, having a different body than these women.”