Demi Lovato covers stretch marks in glitter while opening up about eating disorder recovery

Demi Lovato has opened up about her eating disorder recovery while celebrating her stretch marks in a powerful photo shoot.

Over the weekend, the singer shared photos she’d taken of her stretch marks covered in gold glitter to Instagram, where she explained that she used to believe recovery from an eating disorder wasn’t possible.

“I used to genuinely believe recovery from an eating disorder wasn’t real. That everyone was faking or secretly relapsing behind closed doors. ‘Surely she throws up here and there’, ‘she can’t POSSIBLY accept her cellulite’... those we’re just a few of the things that I used to tell myself growing up,” the 27-year-old wrote.

However, according to Lovato, she is in recovery from her eating disorder for the “first time in my life,” adding that the accomplishment was what inspired her to celebrate her stretch marks in a photo shoot.

“In honour of my gratitude for the place I’m in today, this was a lil shoot I did by myself in quarantine this summer when I wanted to celebrate my stretch marks instead of being ashamed of them,” she wrote. “I started wearing actual glitter paint on my stretch marks to celebrate my body and all of its features (whether society views them as good OR bad).

“My stretch marks aren’t going away so might as well throw a lil glitter on em’ amiright?”

The Sorry Not Sorry singer also took the opportunity to encourage those who may be suffering with an eating disorder and remind them that it is possible to recover, telling her more than 95.1m followers that she believes in them.

“This year was tough... be gentle on yourself if you slip up and remember to get right back on track because you’re WORTH THE MIRACLE OF RECOVERY,” Lovato concluded. “I LOVE YOU.”

The body-positive reminder prompted messages of support from Lovato’s followers, who applauded her for her recovery and for her self-acceptance.

“You are such an inspiration to ME and so many others. Thank you for being such an influence for so many of us to love our beautiful bodies!!” one person commented.

Another said: “SO SO SO proud of you. I love seeing you shine.”

This is not the first time Lovato has been open about her past struggles with disordered eating. In April, the former Disney star revealed how her eating disorder had impacted her while filming the television show Sonny with a Chance, after revealing the month before that she felt her recovery was “controlled” by her team.

“I lived a life for the past six years that I felt like wasn’t my own,” she said during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in March. “Because I struggled really hard with an eating disorder, yes, and that was my primary problem and then it turned into other things, but my life, I just felt was - I hate to use this word, but I felt like it was controlled by so many people around me.”

“I think at some point it becomes dangerous to try to control someone’s food when they’re in recovery from an eating disorder,” she said at the time.

To contact Beat, you can call the charity’s helpline on 0808 801 0677, the studentline on 0808 801 0811 and the youthline on 0808 801 0711.

The helplines are open every day of the year, Monday to Friday from 9am to 8pm and on the weekends and on bank holidays from 4pm to 8pm.