Demi Lovato wishes she were there more for her younger sister during the early days of both their careers!
The 33-year-old singer appeared on the Las Culturistas podcast on Wednesday, where she expressed regret for not being “protective” enough of her sibling Madison De La Garza when she starred in Desperate Housewives. For those who don’t remember, Madison played Juanita Solis, the young daughter of Eva Longoria‘s character Gabrielle, from 2008 to 2012.
At the same time, Demi’s career skyrocketed as she starred in the Camp Rock franchise and Sonny with a Chance on Disney Channel, as well as released her first three albums. She also dealt with a lot of personal struggles, including with an addiction and an eating disorder. A lot was going on for Demi back then. However, she regrets not doing more for Madison while starting their careers:
“At the time, I wish I had been a little bit more protective, to be honest. Because that role was, I think, really challenging for her at such a young age. And I had been distracted by my own stuff going on, unfortunately, and so I live with some regret in that aspect.”
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The Fast artist also recognized there’s only “only so much you can do” as a teen who is new to the industry and just moved to Los Angeles. But what really bothered her about Madison’s part was how often her weight was discussed on the show:
“I do have a little bit of regret because I think it was a difficult role for her. There was a lot of scrutiny in the show about her body and I hate that.”
Constant talk about someone’s body, especially so young, can cause a lot of harm. And considering Demi’s own struggles, we can understand why this upsets her so much to this day. The Cool for the Summer artist thinks her sister handled the difficult situation like a champ, though. She gushed:
“But she’s so strong and she’s so amazing. She turned out so great and I’m so proud of her. She did incredible work on that show. She was iconic.”
Aww! You can tell she really loves and admires her baby sis!
Hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers went on to say they hope Demi doesn’t carry her regret “too heavily,” pointing out that she had to take care of herself before taking care of anyone else. While the actress agrees, she also noted that she has an “interesting perspective” on the situation now:
“We talked about it in my Child Star documentary, and she opened up and was vulnerable with me then, and I think in that moment, that’s when I realized the effect the show had on her. But I’ve always been protective over her. She’s my baby sister and she always will be.”
In the documentary last year, Demi interviewed Madison, along with other former child stars, about their experiences in showbiz. When the Sorry Not Sorry crooner asked about her sister dealing with body-shaming and how it correlated with her and their mom’s eating disorders, she said:
“I’m kind of realizing it now, but at the time, I don’t think any of us truly realized that what was happening with us was an eating disorder. I don’t know. It makes me a little sad that this was something that we were all battling with individually while standing next to each other. Especially because that was originally the focus of my role on Desperate Housewives, and then eventually turned into the focus of my life.”
Oof. That’s hard. But thankfully, the trio all came out on the other side of it stronger. Watch Demi talk about Desperate Housewives on the podcast (below):
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.
[Image via Las Culturistas/YouTube Desperate Housewives/ABC Studios]
The post Demi Lovato Says She Wasn’t ‘Protective’ Enough Of Sister Madison On <i>Desperate Housewives</i> — Here’s Why! appeared first on Perez Hilton.