Demi Lovato Reveals Her Estranged Late Father Struggled With ‘Mental Illness’
June 27 2013, Published 12:26 p.m. ET
Demi Lovato suffered the heartbreaking loss of the father she hadn’t spoken to in years this week and she opened up about his death on Good Morning America where she revealed he had a mental illness.
“I’m handling it ok,” Demi told Robin Roberts about her father Patrick Lovato’s death, saying his death was “difficult.”
The two were estranged for years and just a few weeks before he died Patrick told RadarOnline.com that he “loves Demi very much and just wanted his little buddy back.”
The X Factor judge admitted that she wasn’t close with her father, saying: “My father and I didn’t have the most ideal relationship. But at the end of the day he’s still my dad I grew up with him. He was a wonderful person.”
Since her rehab stint Demi’s father had been trying to reach out to her, begging her to talk with him one last time, as he said he suffered from a life threatening cancer, but as of early June he cried as he said they hadn’t spoken in a very long time.
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Patrick lived in New Mexico and told RadarOnline.com that he was in and out of the hospital for his cancer treatment over the years.
Demi, 20, said she and her father were very similar, despite their years of not speaking.
“I’ve dealt with mental illness. My father dealt with mental illness. He wasn’t able to function very well in society.”
As a tribute to her late father Demi announced that she is creating the Lovato Treatment Scholarship program that will help one person at a time pay for mental illness treatment.
“I’m working with Cast Recovery, a treatment center I’ve worked really really closely with and I have trust in their program.”
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