Demi Lovato is definitely an inspiring woman. She has been open and honest with her fans about her struggles with mental health, revealing that she’s suffered from bipolar disorder, bulimia and substance abuse.
Now, she seems to be doing amazingly, and we’re so happy for her. But it’s sad to hear that a huge fan of hers had such a bad experience with Demi.
Mike Peretz, Demi’s long-term fan, recounted how underwhelming it was to meet Demi, after paying $500 for a meet-and-greet.
After seeing the backlash, Demi posed the question on Twitter, about whether or not she should cancel her meet-and-greets altogether.
Mike revealed how Demi dismissed him after he told her about his struggles with mental health.
“Our meet and greet was at her concert at the All-State Arena in Chicago. I walked in and Demi was standing there. I knew I had only 10 seconds with her, so I planned on telling her how much she meant to me,” Mike began.
“I know in interviews she said meeting her fans was super meaningful. I think she said it on Ellen once that fans have told her that she was their inspiration and that she changed their life and that really hits hard and means a lot to her. So, I took the picture with her and she never even really looked at me or anything, she never really looked at anyone. She would say, ‘Hi’ and then walk away and that was it.”
He continued: “After she took her picture with me, I was like, ‘Hey, I want to let you know, I am bipolar and anorexic and I have struggled with a lot of those things. You have been a big part of helping me and an inspiration in getting me to a good place and you have really helped me and saved my life. I just want to say thank you.’”
He explains how Demi acted cold toward him, and “then, she like finally looked away from the camera and was like, ‘OK’ and then looked back and was that was it.”
After the encounter with Demi, Mike recalls how he experienced a bunch of emotions. “At first I was underwhelmed, I was so nervous going in and I paid a lot of money to meet her,” he explains. “I realised later how shitty it was. I went from this is a waste of money, to thinking; ‘This is kind of dangerous thinking about the bigger implications’. I was over it, she was shitty. I was trying not to care, but thinking about how she built her brand on caring about these mental health issues, and she blew me off.”
After the meet-and-greet, Mike found his seat and continued to watch her show. “During the concert, she said how she loved all her fans and ‘never feel alone cause I am there for you.’ But she wasn’t really. I was like, ‘She is stupid and needs to get over herself.’”
“If you are going to build your brand on being an advocate for mental health, then you can’t be so nonchalant; Even more than nonchalant, she was dismissive,” Mike concluded.
“When people go to you with their stories and you react like that, it can be dangerous. I am in a great place right now, but if I weren’t then, that could’ve been a dangerous thing. If you are someone’s inspiration, either adjust your brand or adjust your attitude at meet and greets. — Especially when Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and all these people are known for having really great meet and greets.”
Unfortunately, Mike isn’t the only one who has had a bad experience meeting Demi. In fact, there is a whole bunch of people on Reddit telling their stories about meeting her…
But what does he think of Demi threatening to cancel all meet-and-greets?
“That is funny I say, go ahead. Beyonce doesn’t do meet and greets because she knows. Demi would be doing a bigger service to her fans to cancel them rather than to go along and do what she is doing.” Instead, he suggests a different approach. “At least just call them what they are, photo opportunities, because that is all they are,” he said. “Other celebrities take that term a different way. So cancel them if you want, I wish she had cancelled them before mine was.”
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