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"  On a weeknight in New Jersey, you&amp;#039;d think a riot was starting as thousands of girls stomp their feet, screaming, &amp;quot;Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!&amp;quot; Then, pop star Demi Lovato comes onstage and the room explodes. If she were to say, &amp;quot;Let&amp;#039;s go to war,&amp;quot; and storm out of the arena, the 20,000 &amp;quot;Lovatics&amp;quot; there would follow. Perfect pop princess? Not exactly. As we all know well, it was a long and bumpy road from child performer to confident rock star. As a 7-year-old, Demi lived every Dallas girl&amp;#039;s dream: singing and dancing under the hot lights on the set of Barney and Friends for millions of viewers. But when she left the studio, the smile faded fast. &amp;quot;It was that loneliness you get when you&amp;#039;re sad and it&amp;#039;s the middle of the night, and even though you have family and friends to call, it&amp;#039;s hard to pick up the phone.&amp;quot; By her teens, she&amp;#039;d fallen into a familiar pattern: well-publicized bouts with bulimia, drug abuse, and self-mutilation. The spiral continued with a rehab stint and a canceled tour. But in the past year, Demi had a major reboot, and now she&amp;#039;s in a place where nothing will bring her back down. When she celebrated her birthday last August during a visit to Kenya for the Free the Children charity, it was\u2028 a major turning point. &amp;quot;I was used\u2028 to drinking and doing drugs on my birthday,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I always imagined my 21st being a huge party where I&amp;#039;d get shit-faced and go crazy. But I realized that there&amp;#039;s so much more to life than that. Imagine walking 10 miles a day just to get water for your family? We have so much to be grateful for.&amp;quot; Fresh off a 27-city U.S. tour to promote DEMI, her fourth, and most personal, album, this guerrera is hitting the road again to perform in South America and Mexico, with plenty of support and a healthy outlook to keep her on point. We caught up with her backstage for an exclusive peek at her life.  More from Lovato&amp;#039;s interview:\u00A0 On inspiring young girls:\u00A0&amp;quot;When I was younger, I needed someone in the spotlight to idolize, who stood for positivity and light and happiness, and wanted to change the world. And because I didn&amp;#039;t have that, I realized I want to do that, if only for my 12-year-old little sister.&amp;quot; On keeping her bipolar disorder in check:\u00A0&amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a daily thing. I treat it with medication. Not everybody does that, but for me it works. That&amp;#039;s what works for me \u2014 medicating, checking in with people, being honest, and being grateful for things.&amp;quot;  On her career:\u00A0&amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m very proud of how far I&amp;#039;ve come, but I definitely want to win a Grammy one day, and I dream of winning an Oscar. I want to continue to tour and build my fan base and make music that will last for decades.&amp;quot; On when she feels the sexiest:\u00A0&amp;quot;I feel sexiest when I&amp;#039;m comfortable \u2014 this means when I&amp;#039;m in my element onstage, and also when I&amp;#039;m wearing a T-shirt, jeans, my leather jacket, and no makeup!&amp;quot;  Don&amp;#039;t forget: You can subscribe to\u00A0Cosmopolitan For Latinas\u00A0on your e-reader. Find us on Apple, Amazon, Zinio, and Barnes and Noble.\u00A0 Photo credit: Matt Jones; Jesse Darci "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/news/a24380/demi-lovato-cosmo-for-latinas-2014/>