Demi Lovato rounded out her life’s work by co-directing the new Hulu documentary “Child Star.”

The former Disney Channel kid turned teen pop star looks beyond his own career path and analyzes the rise of the entire child acting industry – from the Shirley Temple era to the TikTok and YouTube generation.

Lovato recruited child stars Drew Barrymore, Kenan Thompson, Christina Ricci, Raven-Symoné, Alyson Stoner and JoJo Siwa to tell their stories on camera. Raven-Symoné, Siwa and Stoner also joined Lovato at a special screening of the documentary at Neuehouse Hollywood on Sept. 12. “Being able to speak so openly with them about our experiences was so meaningful to me,” Lovato said. diversity.

Because of that shared experience, Lovato’s conversations were very different than sitting down with someone who wasn’t there. “There was a connection that was really important to all of us,” Lovato said. “That’s one of the reasons I decided to co-direct this film, because it’s such a big part of my story, and I knew it would be so important to be able to connect with the people involved. And I wanted to do it myself.”

Of course, Lovato (who uses they/them and she/her pronouns) knows a thing or two about documentaries. She was the subject of three — “Stay Strong” (2012), “Simply Complicated” (2017) and “Dancing With the Devil” (2021) — that documented the ups and downs of her life and career, including her struggles with mental health issues and substance abuse. Lovato pitched the idea for “Child Star” to producer Michael D. Ratner after they worked together on “Dancing With the Devil”; he immediately jumped on board, followed by co-director Nicola Marsh (“The 12th Victim,” “Omnivore”).

“Demi is very comfortable telling her story – she’s been very public about it,” Marsh said of working with Lovato. “She’s a very serious person, so she’s not interested in superficial conversations like, ‘Let’s talk about who we had a crush on.’ She wants to go deeper.”

Lovato’s instincts were evident from the first interview, when Raven-Symoné reflected on her experience as a guest star on Lovato’s Disney Channel sitcom “Sonny With a Chance,” which Lovato initially couldn’t remember. In the documentary, the two discuss Lovato’s difficult behavior on set. “You weren’t the nicest person,” Raven-Symoné says. “But being who I am and being in the industry as long as you have, and understanding the glazed look, I didn’t hold it against you. I just thought, ‘There’s something going on.'”

It was a life-changing moment for Ratner. “I was pretty amazed at the distancing that took place as (Demi) was growing up,” he said. “We only talked about it briefly, but to really see it and imagine what it’s like to be so overworked that you can’t remember meeting people and working with them, it’s intense.”

Raven-Symoné quickly agreed to participate in the documentary. “I thought it was very necessary and needed,” she said. “There are different perspectives when it comes to child stars, and what I like about this one is that at the end of the day, we are all successful in our own way. Yes, we face challenges, but we all move forward. And we are standing on the shoulders of some child stars who didn’t even manage to live this year.”

Siwa was also keen to get involved. “When Demi calls, you answer and say ‘yes.’ It’s cool that I got the chance to bring in the social media site,” she said. “I’m so grateful that this happened at this exact time because if it had happened three years ago, I would have technically still been a kid, so it feels like the perfect time.”

Since this was the first time she’d seen the finished film, Siwa was expecting an emotional experience. “I’m preparing myself to process a little trauma that I don’t know exists,” she said. “Because I think there’s something that I may have hidden from my brain because I grew up as a child star in the spotlight. I’ve seen everything positively, but when I hear other people’s experiences, I might sit there and think, ‘Oh crap, I feel that way too.'”

Stoner’s decision to participate was a little more complicated. Stoner and Lovato starred together on Disney Channel’s “Camp Rock” but had been separated for 14 years, since a 2010 incident in which Lovato punched a backup dancer. In the years since, Stoner has become a vocal advocate for laws protecting child actors — a mission that eventually brought Stoner and Lovato back together for their first conversation.

“It’s interesting when you have an idea for something and no one else is talking about it,” Stoner said. “You sit in your room and do research, put together all sorts of projects to move it forward, and then you see other people join in” – a reference to the documentary series “Quiet on Set.” “It gives you hope when you feel like something is moving.”

Ultimately, Stoner’s participation in the documentary was a “strategic” move to provide a platform for the issue, which turned into an opportunity for healing for the two young stars.

“It’s strange because in our early years we’re often pitted against each other as competition,” Stoner said. “It can be quite an isolating experience, even when you’re smiling side by side on red carpets. To be able to sit next to each other now and feel the embodied experience of similar patterns in our nervous systems – we have the same tics, the same anxieties, similar actual mental health issues that are a direct reflection of being child actors – can feel human in an otherwise incomprehensible upbringing.”

In the documentary, Stoner cites some shocking statistics: the average life expectancy of famous people is 14 years lower than that of non-famous people because their mental health is more severely affected. Famous people are also four times more likely to commit suicide. Fame has similar addictive effects to substances, Stoner notes. “If that’s the case, then why would we give a child a drug that fundamentally changes their brain chemistry and future development?”

And what’s next? As Marsh puts it, “Yesterday’s child stars are the canaries in the coal mine for kids on the Internet.”

Stoner believes that the entertainment industry is indeed at a turning point. “It is up to each of us individually and collectively as a community, as an industry and as a collective society to continually apply pressure in the right places at the right time with the right motives,” they said. diversity“Change doesn’t happen on its own.”

Stoner is working on a bill in her home state of Ohio to protect child influencers. A Michigan congressman recently asked her for help. The protections are being enforced on a state-by-state basis. “There’s still a long way to go, but I’m direct messaging congressmen and saying, ‘Let’s talk,'” Stoner said.

Raven-Symoné has worked to create change within the industry by producing and directing shows featuring child actors for the Disney Channel. “We need to help change the perception of what a child star is,” she said. “I love every child actor that comes in here, and I’ll hopefully create a foundation for their career that allows them to grow into productive adults in the industry. It’s about confidence, awareness, and understanding that you don’t have to do this for the rest of your life. There are other things in the industry, and it took me 38 years to figure that out.”

Will Lovato’s future include more directing? They’re not sure. “If so, I would be a co-director,” Lovato said. “But I always have dreams that I try to pursue – who knows if that will be a dream that I try to pursue again in the future.”

But filming the documentary inspired Lovato to write new music – namely the song “You’ll Be OK, Kid,” which plays at the end of the film. In this soulful song, Lovato sings to her younger self, who longed to be as famous as Shirley Temple: “The sharks in the water will teach you how to swim, the thorns on the roses will thicken your skin. People may hurt you and break promises, but, honey, I promise you this: It’s going to be OK, boy.”

“It’s a little bit about working with your inner child, but at the same time it’s also kind of a cautionary tale,” Lovato said. “It was really important for me to make this song because I knew exactly what I wanted to say.”