Demi Lovato is known for being a pop superstar and as a former reigning teen queen on the Disney Channel. Given the singer’s dark-eyed and raven-haired beauty, along with her unique name, many people might be wondering about Demi Lovato’s nationality.
Demi Lovato is American. The singing sensation was born and raised in the United States, though, like most Americans, Lovato’s roots start further afield, with the singer having a diverse background.
Read more about Demi Lovato’s childhood in the United States and how Lovato recently discovered more about her unique heritage.
Texas Tyke
Demetria “Demi” Devonne Lovato was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but raised by her mom in Dallas, Texas. Lovato’s father, Patrick, was an engineer and part-time musician, whose family hailed from New Mexico.
Demi’s mom, Dianna De La Garza, is a former NFL cheerleader, who was born in Texas and had English and Irish ancestry on her side of the family. After Lovato’s parents divorced when Demi was 2-years old, Dianna relocated the family back to her home state.
Unbeknownst to them, the move to Dallas would change Demi Lovato’s life. Though she had a passion for music and singing from a young age, it was being cast on the Dallas-based hit children’s show, Barney and Friends, that would be the start of Lovato’s career.
Fame and Fortune
After leaving Barney and Friends, Lovato became a Disney Channel darling, being cast in multiple television shows and Disney Channel Original movies, including Camp Rock, alongside The Jonas Brothers. She was also signed by Hollywood Records and released her first album, Don’t Forget, in the fall of 2008.
Lovato would go on to release five more studio albums and become a mainstay in the tabloid headlines, chronicling the ups and downs of her personal life. Despite the star’s personal problems, Lovato has always been open with sharing her personal life with her fans, and it was no different when the singer opted to look into her family’s background.
Roots Revealed
Like many celebrities and non-celebrities alike, Lovato got caught up in the DNA testing craze, and in early 2017, the singer took to Twitter to share her results. In her post, Lovato wrote, “I did a DNA test and found out I’m mainly Spanish, with Native American, SCANDINAVIAN (which I had NO idea), Irish, BRITISH….”
Broken down into percentages, Lovato’s DNA results show she’s 32% Spanish (hailing from the Iberian Peninsula), 16% Scandinavian, 14% Irish, 11% British, 10% Native American, and a 7% combination from various other Western European countries.
Lovato was shocked by some of the findings, also learning that she has some Jewish roots, and was not Italian or Mexican as she had initially thought. During an interview with the UK version of KIIS FM, Lovato discussed her DNA test results, and jokingly told the host, “My ancestors got around.”
In an effort to embrace some of her newfound roots, in the fall of 2019, Demi and her mother took a trip to Israel, which included visiting the Western Wall and the singer sharing on Instagram being baptized in the Jordan River. Of the trip, Lovato wrote, “I am an American singer. I was raised Christian and have Jewish ancestors. When I was offered an amazing opportunity to visit the places I’d read about in the Bible growing up, I said yes.”
Pop Music Patriotism
Even though Lovato was surprised by her heritage and has a desire to embrace her family’s roots, it’s clear that the singer also loves her home country of America and embraces patriotic traditions such as celebrating the 4th of July. In fact, Lovato even released a song called “Made in the USA” which received positive reviews and chronicles the love story of an All-American couple.
You can watch Lovato discuss her song, “Made in the USA,” in the YouTube video below.