‘I lost my virginity in a rape’ — Demi Lovato recounts sexual assault at 15

Demi Lovato, American singer cum actress, has narrated how she was raped on two occasions — with the first leading to the loss of her virginity at 15.

The award-winning music star brought the revelation to light in ‘Dancing With The Devil,’ her new documentary, which premiered on Tuesday.

Lovato said she was first raped by someone she knew when she was working with Disney in the late 2000s.

The music star also talked about the trauma she went through as she kept seeing her abuser “all the time” after the incident with nothing being done to him even after she had opened up.

“I lost my virginity in a rape. And, you know what, f**k it, I’m just gonna say it: my #MeToo story is me telling somebody that someone did this to me, and they never got in trouble for it. They never got taken out of the movie they were in,” she said.

The ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ crooner hinted that the incident started on a consensual note but explained that when she withdrew her consent, her abuser continued, leaving her traumatised eventually.

“We were hooking up but I said, ‘hey, this is not going any farther, I’m a virgin and I don’t want to lose it this way.’ And that didn’t matter to them, they did it anyway. And I internalized it and I told myself it was my fault because I still went in the room with him, I still hooked up with him,” she said.

The 28-year-old did not reveal where the assault took place or the identity of her abuser. She also did not mention who she told about the incident at the time.

She, however, said the incident happened when she was “a part of that Disney crowd that publicly said they were waiting till marriage”.

Lovato also narrated how she was raped and “left for dead” during her fatal 2018 overdose by her drug dealer.

According to the singer, both experiences were “textbook trauma re-enactments, and I really beat myself up for years, which is also why I had a really hard time coming to terms with the fact that it was a rape when it happened”.

The actress said she had to speak about the incidents “because everyone that that happens to should absolutely speak their voice if they can and feel comfortable doing so.”