Demi Lovato Admits To Muting Some Friends On Instagram

After years of struggling with mental health, drugs and eating disorders, Demi Lovato is working toward accepting herself.

The 27-year-old singer opened up about a lot of personal struggles she’s been working to overcome in an interview Tuesday for Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham.

“I think the most important thing to hold onto in life is gratitude and with gratitude comes humility,” she said.

For Lovato, that gratitude means occasionally having to block her friends on social media so that she doesn’t let her own negative thoughts about her body consume her.

“Social media itself is a giant trigger. I did learn that you could mute people,” Lovato said. “I’ll admit I have a few friends that are just so insanely beautiful, that like, I love to death, but even seeing friends I’ll be like ‘ugh, why don’t I look like that?’ And I’m like, but those are my friends!”

In her path toward self-acceptance, Lovato said she had to learn to eliminate the phrase “power through” that she was taught throughout her teen years working as both an actress and singer. Rather than constantly trying to push aside feelings, she is now letting herself grieve in moments when it’s necessary, like in the death of a loved one.

“I just wish people could be more gentle with themselves,” she said.

Her new phrase, “you’re healthy and I accept you,” is one she utters to herself when looking in the mirror. It’s an anthem that she tries to live by as she works on teaching herself to be grateful for the stage of life she is at now. While she “would love to be in a place” where she could say, “I’m super confident in my body,” she knows that this is the first step toward that goal.

The new mantra and attempt at more self-love began last year and started making a big mark last September, with an Instagram post of herself in a bikini that made headlines because it was the first time she had confronted her “biggest fear” and posted an unedited body shot.

Now, Lovato’s heading into 2020 with a fresh focus on her career and her lifestyle and she wants to stop worrying about her looks and keep focusing on her music.

“I would rather be rejected for something authentic than loved for something that I’m not,” she said.