Demi Lovato: 'I Was Suicidal' At Age 7

(CBS NEWS) - Demi Lovato has been open about her past struggles with bulimia and cutting, but her troubles go back much further than her teen years.

Demi Lovato (credit: Matt Jones/Cosmopolitan)

In a new interview with Cosmopolitan, the 20-year-old singer/actress reveals she was struggling even as a child, when she landed her first gig at age 7 on "Barney and Friends."

"At the time, I was so grateful to just be on TV, but I was also really struggling," she said in the magazine's August issue. "Looking back, there was a connection, probably between any kid who's ever sang that [the theme song] to Barney, a little place in a child's heart, a void, that could be filled. And maybe Barney fills it. Even before Barney, I was suicidal. I was 7."

She added, "With Barney, I guess subliminally, I did have a relationship with this figure that was saving my life in a way...I've talked about being bullied and the years of being a teenager, but I went through things when I was younger that I've never talked about that probably caused me to turn out the way I ended up turning out."

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