X Factor Demi Lovato is now ambassador for Secret’s Mean Stinks

By Katrina Jones Sep 21st, 2012 ( 2 Comments )

New York: Demi Lovato, co-judge of X Factor with Britney Spears, tells PEOPLE that it was not always easy for her to grow up.

“I had a really tough time when I was in middle school,” Lovato said.

“People would write ‘hate petitions’ [about me] and send them around to be signed. They’d have CD-bashing parties of my demos.

“They’d come to my house, stand across the street and yell things. It was a very emotional time for me, and all I wanted to do was get away.”

“Back then, there were times I didn’t think I’d be able to move on,” she admits.

Now, she is gaining benefits from those painful experiences and is now the new ambassador for Secret’s “Mean Stinks” campaign. She encourages girls to gang up for good” to end bullying in schools.

“I heard about the program last year, and thought it was such a great opportunity,” Lovato says. “They’re really trying to put an end to bullying.”

Lovato talk to students at New York City’s Young Women’s Leadership School about the programme that asks girls to pledge to have a “Drama Free School Year” by making a pinky swear, shown by having blue nail polish on their little fingers.

“I’ll definitely be wearing [the nail polish] starting soon,” Lovato says.

“It’s a conversation starter: ‘Hey, why is your pinky blue?’ ‘This is a pinky promise that I’m not going to bully people, that me and my friends are ganging up for good.’ “