Demi Lovato reflects on being compared to Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez during Disney days

Demi Lovato took a moment to comment about how, during her Disney Channel days, she was “pitted” against fellow stars Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez.

The pop singer recently opened up about her early career days in a recent appearance on Keke Palmer’s Baby, This is Keke Palmer podcast.

Recalling the search for “the number one girl” at the dawn of their careers, Demi said, “You naturally have insecurities at a young age, so you start comparing yourself to other people.”

“But one thing my mom instilled in me was, ‘There’s room for everyone. It’s not a competition.'”

And Demi admitted that due to her mom’s advice, she made it at the time.

“That’s what I really stuck by. That’s what kind of got me through that period. I was always rooting for everybody,” The Camp Rock alum added.

For those unversed, Demi and Gomez began their career in 2002 with the children’s show Barney & Friends, starring as Angela and Gianna, respectively.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Demi recalled her “bratty” behaviour on set as a teenage star.

“I was 16, 17, like, I don’t know. I just wasn’t always the nicest 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.’”

Reflecting on the struggle early in her career, she added, “I just wanted so badly for someone to see that I was struggling. 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, like, exactly what you said, doing what I had to do to survive.”