Demi Lovato said ending their engagement to Max Ehrich put them on the path to embracing their true self in a new interview this weekend. The “Dancing with the Devil” singer even said there could be a time in the future when they identify as trans. Lovato, 29, came out as non-binary in May, a few months after breaking up with Ehrich.
“I was able to stand on my own two feet without needing someone else to validate me or to make me feel accepted,” Lovato said in an interview with The 19th, via Entertainment Tonight. “And when I said goodbye to that relationship, I also said goodbye to everything that was holding me back from being my most authentic self.”
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Lovato said they already identified as non-binary when they started dating Ehrich. This led to them ignoring some important parts of themselves. “I met someone and I got into this straight relationship, and that was great, but that led me to ignoring all the parts of myself that I didn’t think were digestible for my partner at the time, who ended up becoming my fiancรฉ,” Lovato said.
The former Disney Channel star’s gender journey is not over yet. They noted there “might be a time” where they identify as trans in the future. “I don’t know what this looks like for me. There might be a time where I identify as non-binary and gender-nonconforming my entire life,” Lovato said. “Or maybe there’s a period of time when I get older that I identify as a woman, I don’t know what that looks like, but for me, in this moment right now, this is how I identify. And I have a feeling that it’s not going to ever go back to one way or the other, but it’s about keeping it open and free and just I’m a very fluid person, and so that goes with how I express myself as well.”
Lovato and Ehrich got engaged in July 2020 and broke up in September 2020. In the months since then, Lovato has often talked about how important that was in their gender identity journey. In March, they described themselves as “really queer” during an interview with Glamour, around the time they released their Dancing with the Devil documentary. In May, they announced they are non-binary during the first episode of the new podcast 4D with Demi Lovato.
After talking about doing some “healing and self-reflective work” in the past year and a half, Lovato said they are “officially” changing pronouns to they/them. “I feel that this best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person I both know I am and am still discovering,” they said.
Last month, Lovato told fans they understood how difficult it is to get used to the new pronouns, noting that they “accidentally misgender myself sometimes” too. “It’s a huge transition to change the pronouns I’ve used for myself my entire life,” Lovato wrote on Instagram on July 13. “And it’s difficult to remember sometimes! As long as you keep trying to respect my truth, the shift will come naturally.”