Singer-actor Demi Lovato has revealed that she’s become a co-owner of CAST Centers – a mental health and wellness treatment facility in Los Angeles – during an interview with Tracy Smith for CBS Sunday Morning.
CAST Centers is where Lovato – who has been open about needing help for bulimia, depression and substance abuse – was referred in 2013.
Follow the jump for more. The full interview will air on CBS Sunday Morning on Sunday, September 11th (9 AM/C).
POP STAR DEMI LOVATO REVEALS TO “CBS SUNDAY MORNING” THAT SHE’S BECOME A CO-OWNER OF THE CAST CENTERS IN LOS ANGELES
Pop star Demi Lovato reveals that she has become a co-owner of CAST Centers, a mental health and wellness treatment center in Los Angeles, in an interview with Tracy Smith for CBS SUNDAY MORNING, to be broadcast Sept. 11 (9:00 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network.
Lovato has been open about her own health issues. In 2013, after a rough period in her life, Lovato was referred to the CAST Centers for help with depression, bulimia and substance abuse. The program worked, and she’s brought her rehab guru, Mike Bayer, CEO and founder of CAST, on tour with her this summer.
Why buy in?
“I don’t know what it says. It just feels good,” Lovato tells Smith.
“How many 24-year-olds own their own treatment center?” says Lovato’s manager, Phil McIntyre. “But then to leverage her position in pop music, to do so much good, is just incredible.”
To say Lovato has come a long way since undergoing treatment at CAST would be an understatement. Indeed, CAST’s Bayer admits to Smith that when he first met the former Disney star-turned-household-name, she was “very closed off.”
Lovato says that she was far from a model patient.
“I mean, I was a nightmare,” says Lovato. “I would say the word that I want to say, but it’s so inappropriate that I can’t. And this will be on a Sunday morning, so I’m not going to say it.”
Eventually she thrived at the facility, and now she is healthy again and on tour with Nick Jonas. She also spoke this summer at the Democratic National Convention, part of her efforts to use her celebrity to help others living with mental illnesses.
“It sounds ridiculous, but I kind of made a pact with God,” Lovato tells Smith. “And I don’t even think you’re supposed to do that, but I promised, ‘If You make me a singer one day, I’m going to use my voice for so much more than singing, and I’m going to help people with it.’”
Lovato credits taking responsibility for her actions and learning how to function without “some sort of drug or with alcohol” with getting her to this point today.
“And because of that,” Lovato says, “I’m sitting here right now, alive and more successful than I’ve ever been.”
CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.
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