Demi Lovato isn’t afraid to make a move! During Wednesday’s episode of the 4D With Demi Lovato podcast, the “Cool for the Summer” singer admitted to sliding into Schitt’s Creek actress Emily Hampshire’s DMs. Hampshire, who played Stevie Budd in the comedy series, revealed that she and Lovato first met when Lovato messaged her on Instagram.
“I did, I slid in those DMs,” Lovato joked. But Hampshire confessed that there was more to the story. “You slid in my DMs and you said, ‘Hey, I like you on the show. We should kick it sometime,'” Hampshire explained. “And then you said, below it, ‘And by ‘kick it,’ I mean go on a date. I find you attractive.’ You made it clear it was a date. And I loved that because sometimes that’s confusing. I’m decades older than you, so ‘kick it,’ I was looking it up.”
Lovato, 29, then suggested that they and Hampshire, 40, could be like Hollywood couple Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, but quickly realized that implied Hampshire would be Taylor, who is 78. Paulson is 46. “I thought it was the funniest thing in the whole world because I was a Holland Taylor in that situation,” Hampshire said. “Proud to be.”
Lovato admitted that the comparison was “not my smoothest move,” but said they were happy the exchange led to their friendship with Hampshire. “A non-binary person can dream,” Lovato said. “And they, she — I was a ‘she’ at the time — she was dreaming big. I was like, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ And I made a really good friend. You’re a dope friend, and I’m happy we became friends.”
Lovato announced earlier this year that they were nonbinary, telling fans via an Instagram post that they were “proud to let you know that I identify as non-binary and will officially be changing my pronouns to they/them moving forward.” They wrote that “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.”
Lovato had hinted toward their personal growth in an interview earlier in the year, telling Glamour in March that their brief engagement to Max Ehrich in 2020 helped them better understand their identity. “This past year I was engaged to a man, and when it didn’t work, I was like, ‘This is a huge sign.’ I thought I was going to spend my life with someone. Now that I wasn’t going to, I felt this sense of relief that I could live my truth.”