Demi Lovato & Christina Ricci Spill The Tea: How They Snuck Booze On Set As Child Stars

Demi Lovato, who uses she/they pronouns, faced several challenges as she grew up in the spotlight, especially at such a young age.

In the past, she has been open about her struggles related to body image, self-esteem, and mental health. By her late teens, Lovato struggled with substance abuse, and she openly admitted to battling with bulimia, cutting, and addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Her struggles reached a critical point in 2010 when she entered rehab for the first time. She battled cocaine addiction, and her ongoing issues with substance abuse and mental health were widely reported. In July 2018, Lovato suffered a near-fatal overdose.

Years later, Demi Lovato has decided to direct a new docuseries, "Child Star," which will feature other actors and actresses who grew up in Hollywood at a young age and their struggles with mental health, drug and alcohol addiction, and body image issues.

Christina Ricci, who portrayed Wednesday Addams in "The Addams Family," will participate in the project as she spoke out about her rise to fame as a child star, revealing that she had struggled with alcohol and drugs like Lovato.

“I don’t remember feeling like there was any other way to be happy,” Ricci tells Lovato in the documentary, per The Hollywood Reporter, adding that she used to sneak alcohol into her Diet Coke on set. Lovato said she could relate, adding that she did the same but in her coffee--something that she has previously disclosed.

“It was off and on. Then at 17 is when it kind of was the first time, like, I tried coke and loved it too much,” she said, per Us Weekly, of the time around the release of her Disney Channel original movie “Camp Rock.” “That kind of bled into me going to treatment right after I turned 18.” Nick Jonas also weighed in on Lovato's addiction and how it impacted their "Camp Rock" tour.

“My dad was an addict and an alcoholic and I guess I always searched for what he found in drugs and alcohol because it fulfilled him and he chose that over a family," she added.

More about the struggles of drug and alcohol while on the set of 90s and 2000s Disney shows are expected to be revealed in "Child Star," an upcoming docuseries that will feature candid conversations with other former child stars.

In her candid documentary, "Simply Complicated," which premiered in October 2017, the Disney Channel alum revealed that she performed on "American Idol" hungover.

“I would fake my drug tests with other people’s pee. It’s embarrassing to look back on the person that I was,” she revealed. “The very last night that I drank, I was at a hotel and I invited two random people and basically just drank with them. I got really, really drunk until it was time to get on a flight."

"And I was so drunk that I threw up in the back of the car service on the way to the airport to perform on 'American Idol.' I felt like that was a moment in my career where I didn’t care," she added. "I just knew that I needed to get high to get through what I was going through a that point.”

Additionally, Drew Barrymore—who is often seen as the quintessential example of child stardom after making "E.T." at age 6—was eager to be a part of the documentary, even bringing the credibility that Demi Lovato felt the project needed.

The duo spoke about their mutual experience of boundaries that were missing in their childhoods, and they shared stories about their early and harrowing encounters with drugs and alcohol.

The latest convo comes three years after Lovato appeared on the "Drew Barrymore Show," where the two compared their childhood experiences and their struggles with drugs. "You grow up so fast, and you're in these adult jobs, and yet you're not an adult," Barrymore said.

"I started working on set at eight years old on 'Barney & Friends' and so I was around adults at eight years old," Lovato responded. "And I actually always got along better with adults than kids for some reason, so when I got around a lot of adults, I felt more comfortable."

"But you know the adults leave work, and they go and have a drink," she continued. "So it's this weird thing to think about, especially when you become a teenager in Hollywood, and your adult peers are, like I said, going to a bar after work or whatever, and you're 17 thinking, 'Well what do I get to do to play?''"

"I have this mentality, if you're going to work me like an adult [then] I get to party like one, but the reality is, adults weren't partying like I was," she added, referring to her struggles with drugs and alcohol.

Barrymore then reflected on her thoughts and experience as a child star, telling Lovato, "I remember I always wanted to be the person who had a martini at the dinner party and was getting a cocktail, but I'm the girl who probably drinks too many martinis at the dinner party."