Here's Demi Lovato With a Heartfelt Speech on Mental Health 

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Demi Lovato continues to carry the torch for mental health awareness as she celebrates her sixth year of sobriety (congrats Demi!!!!) Billboard reports that during Friday night’s concert at the Barclays Center, she said, “I know that there are people here tonight that need to ask for help.”

Yesterday, six years ago, I was drinking vodka out of a Sprite bottle at 9 in the morning, throwing up in the car. And I just remember thinking, ‘This is no longer cute. This is no longer fun. And I’m just like my dad.’ [Lovato’s father, who she has said was abusive and struggled with mental health issues, died of cancer in 2013.]
So I took a look at my life and I said, ‘Something has to change, I’ve got to get sober’ — so I did.
I made changes in my life, and the reason I became so open about my story is because I know that there are people here tonight that need to ask for help, and I want you to know that that’s okay. Mental health is something that we all need to talk about, and we need to take the stigma away from it. So let’s raise the awareness. Let’s let everybody know it’s okay to have a mental illness, it’s okay to have an addiction problem. I’m bipolar — like, whatever! I take care of myself. And I can never say ‘Thank you’ enough to you guys for the support that you’ve given me over the years, and you’ve forgiven me for my mistakes. Thank you for being a part of saving my life. I love you guys.

Since 2015, Lovato has been a spokesperson for Be Vocal, an initiative to help promote positive stories about mental health on search engines and social media. She’s been open about her struggles with bulimia and addiction as well as living with bipolar disorder, the subject of her 2017 YouTube documentary.

Tourmate DJ Khaled started it off by saying how proud he was of her:

What you’ve overcome through trials and tribulations, through dark clouds, you found the sunshine, and now the sun is shining on you forever…Every night you come light up the stage and you represent your fans, and that’s so amazing.

Demi cried. I cried. Everybody screamed “Demi!” and she followed with a performance of Warrior.

 
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