Is Demi Lovato hanging up those touring shoes? The singer announced Tuesday in a since-deleted social media post that she was sick and that “this next tour” would be her last.
“I’m so f— sick I can’t get out of bed,” the 30-year-old wrote in her Instagram Stories over a series of photos looking out a window. “I can’t do this anymore. This next tour will be my last. I love and thank you guys.”
Lovato continued with follow-up posts asking for fans’ help at the show in Santiago, Chile, on Tuesday night.
“Gonna power thru it for you guys … I’ll need help singing so sing loud for me bb’s!!” wrote the singer, who uses she/her and they/them pronouns. “I barely have a voice. I’m gonna be pointing the mic to the audience a lot tonight. Please sing for me.”
Representatives for the singer didn’t immediately respond Wednesday morning to a request for comment or clarification on the deleted posts.
After the show, Lovato posted thanks to the fans in the audience, saying, “You guys reeeeally pulled thru tonight .. thank you sooo f— much — I love you more than you know.”
In her note about ending the on-the-road part of her career, Lovato — who just wrapped the seven-date, four-country South American leg of her Holy Fvck Tour — appeared to be referring to the upcoming North American leg of the tour, which kicks off Sept. 22 near Sacramento. Lovato will play two dozen U.S. and Canadian cities, including a stop at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood on Sept. 28.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lovato revealed a recent bout with COVID-19, which left her “slightly fatigued” at the time.
In that article, Times reporter Suzy Exposito described Lovato’s most recent album as “a thundering, hard-rock horror maze through Lovato’s psyche as a superstar in recovery — not just from drugs and alcohol but also from the sexual and spiritual repression that had long eaten away at her sense of self.”
South America hasn’t been Lovato’s happy place in the past either. More than a decade ago, in late 2010, the former “Sonny With a Chance” star suddenly quit the Jonas Bros.’ Live in Concert tour right before it hit Ecuador, Chile and Brazil. She left to seek treatment for what her rep at the time said were “emotional and physical issues she has dealt with for some time.”
Months later, Lovato quit the Disney Channel’s “Sonny” — which had been reworked to accommodate her absence during rehab — to focus on her music and her health.
In the years since, Lovato has survived a near-fatal 2018 drug overdose, explored her gender fluidity and pansexuality, publicly feuded with a beloved L.A. frozen-yogurt shop and stopped being “California sober.”
“I’ve reached a point where I’m tired of spoon-feeding myself to the media about my journey with sobriety,” Lovato told The Times in August. “‘This is where I’m at.’ ‘This is where I went for a month.’ ‘These are my pronouns and this is who I am.’ F— it. I’m putting myself out there and that’s what people should appreciate. And the ones that don’t can f— off. I’m tired of explaining myself.”
