Demi Lovato admits she 'wasn't the nicest' to colleagues as a child star

Demi Lovato has admitted she "wasn't the nicest" to her colleagues when she was a child star.

The former Disney kid opened up about her "bratty" behind-the-scenes behaviour, in a wide-ranging interview with actress Keke Palmer.

"There's so many emotions that come to mind when I think about that period of time in my life," Demi, 33, told Keke, 32, on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast.

She went on to reflect on her past behaviour and what she felt had motivated it.

"I just wasn't always the nicest," the Cool for the Summer singer said. "Because what happened was, when people would come on set and they'd say, 'Good morning, Demi. How are you?' In my head, I would literally think, 'You don't care about me. You don't really care how I'm doing'."

Demi also explained she had struggled as a child with the expectations set for her by her bosses.

"I have a lot of compassion for my younger self, because we were held to such high standards at such a young age," Demi said.

"I think I was so hard on myself at the time that I wish I'd had more grace for myself."

The Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2 star opened up about a "breakdown" she experienced while on tour to promote the second instalment of the franchise, explaining it led her to enter the Alcoholics Anonymous rehabilitation programme and begin the "12 Steps" to recovery, which included apologising to people she had harmed while in the grip of substance abuse.

"I had to make amends to a lot of people saying like, 'I'm sorry. I was so challenging to work with at the time. I was so miserable in my own skin and dealing with what I was going through, that I wasn't the nicest person to work with at the time,'" Demi revealed.

"And I think that chapter of my life where I was being really reflective of everything and, like, I wanted to make sure I wanted to right my wrongs."

Demi added her "bratty" behaviour was really a cry for help.

"I just wanted so badly for someone to see that I was struggling," she explained. "And when I ended up having my breakdown, like everyone did, and I was able to explain to people afterwards, like, it wasn't personal. Like, when I showed up and was bratty on set, like, that was not my intention. I was just doing... what I had to do to survive."