Demi Lovato has cooled off after her froyo controversy.
The "Confident" singer apologized to fans on Instagram on Monday, April 19, after she criticized one Los Angeles frozen yogurt shop, The Big Chill, for allegedly perpetuating diet culture with its messaging. During the saga, she took aim at the shop for advertising "GUILT FREE" cookies and cakes, with her writing, "THIS SCREAMS DIET CULTURE AND I WON'T BE GASLIT."
Demi, 28, also posted screenshots of her alleged Instagram DMs with The Bill Chill, which claimed, "We are not diet vultures. We cater to all of our customers [sic] needs for the past 36 years. We are sorry you found this offensive." Demi, who has been open about her experience with eating disorders, wrote back in part, "The whole experience was triggering and awful."
Social media users noted that sugar-free and gluten-free offerings can be inclusive to those with various dietary restrictions, and some users called out the superstar for attacking a local business.
On her Instagram Live on Monday, Demi addressed the backlash, saying, "My intentions were not to come in and bully a small business. That was not it. I walked in, was so triggered that I left without froyo and it made me really sad and that's just, that's all it was. And I wanted to talk about that."
The Dancing with the Devil star continued, "If we can make this environment safer for everyone, including people that are in recovery from an eating disorder… while also giving froyo to vegans and people with diabetes, let's go. Let's f--king go. Let's do it. It just has to be clear."
Demi said she didn't understand at the time that the "diet" and "health food" options were meant for customers with "specific health needs."
At the start of the video, Demi gave her perspective on why she decided to speak out about the yogurt shop. "I am very outspoken about the things that I believe in. I understand that sometimes my messaging can lose its meaning when I get emotional," she said on the Live. "When I messaged this froyo place, like, originally, I wanted to make a point, and I wanted to call out behaviors or branding things that didn't sit right with me."
She continued, "As someone that deals with an eating disorder, like, 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. I know that seems like not a huge deal to a lot of people, but to me, it is."
Demi explained that she's not the only one that may feel this way: "I know that people struggle with froyo with eating disorders... So that's why I'm super sensitive when I walk into a froyo place and I see diet stuff. Like, I'm gonna be protective."
The Grammy nominee also gave insight into how her recovery continues to affect her daily life.
"This is a hard thing to live with on a daily basis," she shared. "The thing about overcoming my addictions, my drug addictions, was because I don't have to, 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."
However, Demi admitted that she didn't handle the situation well, saying, "I definitely jumped to conclusions and probably shouldn't have gone about this the way that I have." Yet, she's still willing to have a discussion with the shop to "help get the messaging right."
She apologized for getting the "messaging wrong" and "disappointing" some people, adding, "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. What I don't feel good about is some of the way it's been interpreted and how the message has gotten misconstrued over all of it."
Watch her full explanation above, which includes a trigger warning.