Demi Lovato's mum has credited the pop star with inspiring her to open up about her own struggles with mental illness and substance abuse.
Dianna De La Garza details her struggles with anorexia, depression, Xanax addiction, and other issues in her memoir Falling with Wings: A Mother's Story, and reveals Demi's past substance abuse and body image issues, which prompted the singer to seek rehab help after a meltdown on tour with the Jonas Brothers in 2010, gave her the spark she needed to be candid about her own problems.
"Demi's the one that gave me courage because she was being so open and honest and vocal about her struggles, and I saw how much it was helping people everywhere," she told Good Morning America on Friday (16Mar18). "I thought, 'I want to be honest and open and tell the whole story and I want to be a part of that'."
Demi is proud her mother found the strength to be open and reveals she has seen a drastic change in Dianna since she got a handle on her own issues and became sober.
"I know it's something that's not easy, first-hand being somebody that's struggled with mental illness and being open and talking about it: I know that it's not easy to be open with the world," Demi said.
"The changes that I've seen in my mom: She's happier, and she's calmer," she added. "She used to suffer with anxiety, and when she self-medicated, she was more depressed, and she kind of had a cloud over her. Now she glows, and she is just so cheerful, and she's the most positive person I know."
