Demi Lovato Shares the Advice She’d Give to Young Disney Stars Today: ‘Take It Easy’

“We were all working so hard, running ourselves into the ground,” Demi Lovato said of her Disney days

Demi Lovato is reflecting on their childhood in the spotlight.

The 30-year-old singer looked back at their Disney beginnings in conversation with PopCrush last week, revealing that she’d tell young stars with the network not to rush growing up.

“It’s more important to have a personal life than it is a career at that age,” Lovato explained. “I think that’s what got lost in the era of Disney when I was in it. We were all working so hard, running ourselves into the ground.”

“If you want to be a teenager, be a teenager,” the star said. “If you want to do this for a living, maybe wait a little bit until you’re older so you can have life experience under your belt.”

“Take it easy,” they summed it up.

Lovato appeared on the PBS show Barney & Friends as a young child in the early 2000s, and became a household name after starring in the Disney Channel film Camp Rock alongside the Jonas Brothers in 2008. She got a solo show with Sonny with a Chance on Disney in 2010, exiting after two seasons to enter treatment for “physical and emotional issues” at age 18.

Looking back, the “Confident” singer said she wasn’t able to fully enjoy herself because she was so focused on her career.

“I didn’t have a lot of fun in my downtime,” Lovato said, noting that they were “often thinking about what I needed to do next” in addition to feeling forced to “act a certain way.”

The “Met Him Last Night” hitmaker added that young actors often don’t get to “experience childhood” or “life as a teenager” because they are “under a microscope.”

Lovato dropped their debut album Don’t Forget in 2008, launching a successful music career that would result in numerous number one singles and millions of record sales worldwide. They are currently promoting their upcoming eighth studio album Holy Fvck, and over the weekend, celebrated their 30th birthday with their new beau.

On Saturday, Lovato was seen walking hand in hand with boyfriend Jutes while leaving Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California.

In honor of the special day, Jutes, a musician, also penned a sweet tribute to the “Sorry Not Sorry” singer on Instagram, sharing a carousel of images and videos of them together.

Calling her a “30-year-old minx,” Jutes added in the caption, “I’m the luckiest schmuck in the world [because] I get to call u mine.”

Earlier this month, a source confirmed exclusively to PEOPLE that Lovato had been quietly dating someone new.

“It’s a really happy and healthy relationship,” said the source. “He’s a super great guy.”

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