Demi Lovato received backlash after speaking out about her visit to a local frozen yoghurt shop, The Bigg Chill, in Los Angeles where she had a hard time ordering on Monday, April 19.
The Dancing with the Devil singer addressed the backlash to the comments she wrote. Meanwhile, the shop already responded to the singer explaining that the ingredients they use are for diabetics, vegans, and those with Celiac disease. Lovato insisted that they should do better as well as find a way to make their shop more inviting to people with different needs including eating disorders, of which she’s also suffering from.
The singer took to her Instagram account on Monday to apologize to anybody who got upset with her comments. She said, “When I messaged this froyo place, originally I wanted to make a point, and I wanted to call out behaviors or branding things that didn’t sit right with me. As someone who deals with an eating disorder and is in recovery from an eating disorder, I still to this day have a hard time walking into a froyo shop, ordering yogurt and being content with it and keeping it down.”
She added, “I know that seems like not a huge deal to a lot of people, but to me it is.” She also defended herself by saying that it wasn’t clear to her that “diet” and “health food” options were “for specific health needs.”
“I didn’t know that,” she explained. “Because it wasn’t clear, I definitely jumped to conclusions and probably shouldn’t have gone about this the way that I have, but I’m willing to talk to this froyo shop to help get the messaging right.”
She went on to say, “I know that people struggle with froyo with eating disorders. That’s why I’m super sensitive when I walk into a froyo place and I see diet stuff.”
“This is a hard thing to live with on a daily basis,” she continued. “The thing about overcoming my addictions, my drug addictions, I can walk away from that and never touch it again for the rest of my life. I don’t ever have to do that. But I have to eat three times a day. This is something that will be with me for the rest of my life. I left that yogurt store and didn’t get the yogurt that I wanted. And then I had a hard time the rest of the weekend, to be totally transparent.”
Lovato also pointed out that her intention was never to come “after a small business as someone with a lot of followers.”
“I walked into a situation that didn’t sit right with me, my intuition said speak up about this, so I did. And I feel good about that,” she explained. “What I don’t feel good about is some of the way it’s been interpreted and how the message has gotten misconstrued.”
“People with eating disorders should be able to go in and feel safe wherever they go to eat. That’s all I’m asking. Literally all I’m asking. If we can make this environment safer for everyone, including people that are in recovery from an eating disorder and just want a little froyo, if we can do that while also giving froyo to vegans and people with diabetes, let’s go.”
Lovato added, “I’m genuinely sorry that people took it the wrong way. I just get really passionate. It’s never coming out of a place of hate, it’s always coming out of a place of love and trying to lift people up. I understand that didn’t lift the froyo place up, but I’m upset and that’s all that that was.”
