The cast of Sonny With A Chance and its spinoff series, So Random, reunited for a (pre-recorded) virtual chat, which was posted on Saturday (April 25) with Demi Lovato, Tiffany Thornton, Allisyn Ashley Arm, Doug Brochu, Sterling Knight, Audrey Whitby, Matthew Scott Montgomery, Shayne Topp and Damien Haas all virtually getting together to catch up.
When Allisyn asked what everyone has been up to since the show ended, Demi quipped, “I went to rehab. Several times!” which got a laugh from everyone in the group. But the “I Love Me” also got praises from her former- co-stars about her SuperBowl and GRAMMYs performances earlier this year.
Demi left Sonny With A Chance in 2011 – after its second season – to focus on her health and music career. The show was then renamed after the sketch comedy show at the center of the series for the subsequent seasons, which starred the rest of the cast as well as some new additions.
Demi later opened up about how Tiffany was an inspiration to her.
“When I went away to treatment for the first time, I remember it like, you were my biggest inspiration coming out of it,” Demi shared. “You dealt with all of those pressures of being a woman on TV. I looked at that like, ‘I wish I had that, so bad.'”
“Yes, I probably was happier in my head with whatever I looked like at the time, but I’m so much happier now with the mentality you have,” she confessed. “I look back and I’m like, ‘Man, it’s a shame we wasted any energy on what we wore on set. … Now I’m just like, ‘It doesn’t matter! What I’m wearing doesn’t matter!'”
She explained how she would spend hours in a fitting for the show. In her recent guest appearance on Will & Grace, it only took 10 minutes and didn’t care how she looked.
The topic went around to Demi used to nap in between scenes on the show, and Demi explained the reason for it. “I wasn’t sleeping. I was miserable and angry too because I felt like I was being overworked, which I was!” she said.
And when Tiffany joked about how the temperature in Demi’s dressing room was always set to “98 degrees,” Demi laughingly pointed out, “You guys! I had an eating disorder and was underweight and freezing!”
Demi also told them how glad she was that the show continued. “You guys carried on without me! The show didn’t stop with me!” she noted. “You guys continued to do it and you killed it. It was awesome. I’m so glad that So Random! existed, because then I got to know Matthew, who’s become one of my closest friends.”
She also revealed that she had considered living a life away from the spotlight.
“I’m realizing that as I’ve gotten older because when I was young, when you start off in the industry as a 7-year-old, 8-year-old, you kind of value your self-worth with your success,” she shared. “I had moments all the time where I was like, ‘Do I want to continue this, or do I want to pull a Tiffany and move to Texas and have a family and have a farm?'”
But as for getting back together to do the show again, Demi would rather do something else with her castmates.
“I love all of you guys so much, but I went through so much during that show that I would rather just start a whole new project with all of you,” she told the group. “I had the best time with you guys and when I think about the show, I miss you guys. And I miss spending time with you and joking and going to Kitchen 24 on our lunch breaks…If we were ever to do anything, I think we should just do a whole new thing.”
Before Demi signed off, Tiffany asked what advise she’d give to other young performers.
“I would just say, speak up for your needs, always tell the people around you [how you feel],” she shared. “If you’re tired, tell them you’re tired. If you’re sick, be honest about being sick and not feeling good. Just speak up for yourself.”
In another interview, Demi also opened up about how her experiences with rehab has prepared her for quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“What’s funny is, one, I’m a homebody because I don’t love fame. I love being able to reach a lot of people with my music and help them. And I love being able to use my platform for the greater good,” she said on the podcast I Weigh With Jameela Jamil. “But when it comes to paparazzi or getting recognized, things like that, that’s just not a part that I really enjoy, so I stay home anyways. I’m a homebody.”
“I’m much more used to self-isolation, but I’m also really used to it because I was joking with some friends that I met in treatment. I was like, ‘This just feels like rehab,'” she noted. “You’re on lockdown at a facility, which most of the time was like a house-looking place or they’ve got beds, except in rehab you don’t get TV or your phone, so this is luxurious.”
“You don’t get to go to the store whenever you want or Postmate whatever you want,” she said, pointing out other similarities. “It’s just interesting. I was like, ‘I’m glad that I’ve already pretty much done this a few times in my life.'”
