Demi Lovato comes out as nonbinary

Now identifying as nonbinary, Demi Lovato announced Wednesday that the pop star and actor prefers to be referenced by the pronouns "they/them."

"I've spent the majority of my life growing in front of all of you … you've seen the good, the bad, and everything in between," the former Disney child star, 28, wrote in an Instagram post to their 104 million followers, alongside a 1½-minute video excerpt of their new podcast, "4D with Demi Lovato."

"Not only has my life been a journey for myself," Lovato continued, "I was also living for those on the other side of the cameras. Today is a day I'm so happy to share more of my life with you all — I am proud to let you know that I identify as nonbinary and will officially be changing my pronouns to they/them moving forward."

Lovato went on to say, "This has come after a lot of healing and self-reflective work. I'm still learning and coming into myself, and I don't claim to be an expert or a spokesperson." Tacitly acknowledging they are a role model, Lovato added, "I'm doing this for those out there that haven't been able to share who they truly are with their loved ones. Please keep living in your truths and know I am sending so much love your way."

In the video, Lovato explains the new set of pronouns — used generally by the nonbinary community so as not to identify as strictly male or female but on a spectrum in-between — "best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person I both know I am, and still am discovering."

Lovato's first guest on the podcast was nonbinary activist, author and performer Alok Vaid-Menon, who goes by the monomial Alok. "Their work to create visibility, equality and understanding has inspired me on my healing journey," Lovato says in the video. "We'll discuss identity at large, but also take the time to personally reflect how I came into my truth so that we, like many others, are able to live our lives authentically."

Lovato, whose seventh studio album, "Dancing with the Devil … The Art of Starting Over" dropped April 2 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart, was the subject of the four-part YouTube documentary series "Dancing with the Devil" that premiered in March. In it, the long-candid Lovato continued to discuss their addictions and recovery, being raped as a teen, and their recent broken engagement with actor Max Ehrich.

In the 2017 YouTube documentary "Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated," the star, who had a yearslong relationship with actor Wilmer Valderrama in the early- to mid-2010s, spoke of having dated both men and women.