1 of 3 | Miley Cyrus (pictured) and Demi Lovato reflected on their insecurities during an episode of "Bright Minded: Live with Miley" on Instagram Live. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI |
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March 18 (UPI) -- Music superstars Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato are sharing their struggles with body image.
The singers and former Disney Channel stars reflected on their insecurities during a new episode of Bright Minded: Live with Miley, a web series Cyrus is creating as people stay home and practice social distancing amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Lovato has been open about her issues with an eating disorder and substance abuse, and said she hopes to help others by being public about her struggles. She recalled how she didn't have a role model for positive body image while growing up as a child actor in Hollywood.
"My whole purpose in coming clean with everything I've been through is to help someone else, because I remember being 12 years old," Lovato said. "My body started changing and I didn't have anyone in young Hollywood to look up to at that time that had a normal body. I just had these stick figures 'cause that was what was in style. I kind of made a vow to myself that was like, when I get older I just want to represent what I didn't have."
"I talked about my struggles with food and stuff, and I'm glad that I did because it's brought me and my fans closer ... and helped young people accept their bodies when they begin to change," she added.
Cyrus also discussed her struggles with body image. She said she refused to wear a bikini for two years after people mocked her and made memes of her look at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.
"I basically went through two or three years where I wouldn't wear shorts. I stopped wearing skirts on stage ... because after the VMAs and I had on my cute little nude bodysuit, everyone started comparing me to a turkey and putting a turkey in my outfit," Cyrus said.
"I was just so skinny and so pasty and they kept putting me next to this turkey, and I was feeling so bad on myself that I did not wear a bikini for like two years," she shared.
Cyrus said the body-shaming was deeply hurtful and made her question her confident public persona.
"No one thought that would've ever made me feel some type of way," the singer said. "It was just really, really hurtful to be so body-shamed like that. And it really affected me in my personal life."
"I felt like having this persona of being the most confident girl on the planet was actually kind of a fraud because I was so insecure on the inside that in my personal life I wasn't even wearing bathing suits and shorts," she added.
Lovato said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this month that her former team would control her diet, which fueled her eating disorder and contributed to her relapse with alcohol and drugs.
During a subsequent episode of Ellen, Lovato told singer Justin Bieber how he inspired her during her personal struggles over the past few years.
Demi Lovato takes part in the Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
during the U.S Open in New York City on August 23, 2008. Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI |
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