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For some, gender expression is an ongoing conversation and an evolving experience, not a fixed endpoint. For Demi Lovato, embracing femininity led the singer to adopt using she/her pronouns again after going by only they/them (for a nonbinary identity) for a year, and she just explained why.
“I’ve actually adopted the pronouns of she/her again with me,” she announced on a recent episode of the Sprout podcast, per JustJared. She explained that they/them was more comfortable in the past because, as she put it, “I’m such a fluid person…. I felt like, especially last year, my energy was balanced and my masculine and feminine energy so that when I was faced with the choice of walking into a bathroom and it said, ‘women’ and ‘men,’ I didn’t feel like there was a bathroom for me because I didn’t feel necessarily like a woman. I didn’t feel like a man. I just felt like a human. And that’s what they/them is about. For me, it’s just about like feeling human at your core.”
In May 2021, the singer came out as nonbinary, though she added she back to her pronouns on Instagram a year later, as Page Six noted at the time. A few months before, in March 2021, Lovato hinted to Glamour that they were preparing to come out. “I know who I am and what I am, but I’m just waiting until a specific timeline to come out to the world as what I am,” Lovato said. “I’m following my healers’ timeline, and I’m using this time to really study and educate myself on my journey and what I’m preparing to do.”
Today, though, she/her feels more appropriate. “Recently I’ve been feeling more feminine, and so I’ve adopted she/her again,” said Lovato on Sprouts. And because she knows it can be confusing, she reminded listeners that flubbing a word is less important than treating people well. “I think what’s important is, like, nobody’s perfect. Everyone messes up pronouns at some point, and especially when people are learning, it’s just all about respect,” she said.
As of this writing (August 2, 2022), Demi Lovato’s pronouns on Instagram are listed as they/them/she/her. How cool to be able to embrace and express all facets of your personality and identity at once!