Demi Lovato Told Joe Rogan That Jiu-Jitsu Has Helped Her Find Balance in Life

Demi Lovato is making sure her story is being told. The “I Love Me” singer recently released a docuseries, Dancing with the Devil, in which she talks about a range of topics including her near-fatal drug overdose in 2018, but she’s also been doing a number of media appearances as of late.  

In both the docuseries and her recent interviews, she’s shared some little-known secrets about her life and how she’s managed to live with her addiction. Interestingly, she recently revealed to Joe Rogan that she’s an avid jiu-jitsu fan and that training with jiu-jitsu has been excellent for helping her with mental health. 

Demi Lovato is a blue belt in jiu-jitsu 

Lovato talked about her love for jiu-jitsu during a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. According to her, she never imagined being as skilled in it as she is today. 

“I’ve tapped out a few people in my time,” Lovato said. “What’s really wild is when you surpass yourself. Like, you think—I don’t know, I just—I never thought that I’d get a blue belt. I just never thought that I’d be a belt in anything, I’m a singer. And then, hard work pays off, and it’s just really cool when you get to prove yourself wrong.” 

She says jiu-jitsu has been as helpful as meditation for helping her find balance 

Even though she enjoys sparring, Lovato really loves jiu-jitsu because of its tremendous mental health benefits. 

“It’s the best thing, I found … I mean, outside of meditation, for me,” Lovato said.

According to Lovato, there’s a similarity between the calmness that jiu-jitsu and meditation bring, which Rogan agreed with. 

“Jiu-jitsu people are some of the calmest people I’ve ever met in my life,” Rogan interjected. “They’re all chill.”

“Totally,” Lovato said. “Especially when they get into like, flow rolling. That is meditative. That is meditation.” 

It’s hard for her to find people to train with 

Lovato’s passion for jiu-jitsu meant she often searched for studios she could train at while she’d be on tour in previous years. 

“I’ve gone to random places throughout the country but I couldn’t tell you the name,” Lovato said. “And there weren’t also a lot of people in there … or [it’s] just my trainer.” 

However, even though Lovato loves to train jiu-jitsu regularly, it can be difficult for her to find partners to work out with. Many trainers are worried that random people might intentionally try to injure her and make her unable to perform. 

“It’s hard for me, not a lot of people wanted to let me train with other people … outside of a private lesson,” Lovato admitted. “They were worried about people being like… Or just not being able to walk on stage for a month.” 

She was training jiu-jitsu heavily until the pandemic started 

Unfortunately, Lovato hasn’t been able to train jiu-jitsu much lately, as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced her to be extremely careful. 

“I was super, super into it until Covid hit,” Lovato said. “And then when Covid hit, I just—I got really, really nervous ‘cause I have asthma and autoimmune sh*t. So I just got really nervous about training so close with anybody that I took a break from it. But I’m anxious to get back. I can’t wait to train.” 

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.