Is Demi Lovato Mexican?

The singer, songwriter, and actress–now also an activist and author–is known mostly for her powerful vocals and many past TV roles. Demi Lovato may have been born in New Mexico, but is it possible that she has a Mexican background?

Demi Lovato is Mexican. Her father, Patrick Martin Lovato, is of Mexican descent, and her mother, Dianna De La Garza, has English and Irish heritage, meaning that Demi Lovato is half Mexican.

Read more below to find out about Demi Lovato’s heritage and how it has influenced her musical career, her identity, and her activism.

Demi Lovato’s DNA Test

Questions about Demi Lovato’s background have long been raised, beginning with her name. For a long time, many people thought Demi Lovato was Italian or even Greek, as “Demi” is of Greek origin and “Lovato” is a common northern Italian surname.

In 2017, Lovato posted the results of her DNA test on twitter, and posted this tweet explaining the results, saying, “I’m mainly Spanish, with Native American, SCANDINAVIAN (which I had NO idea), Irish, BRITISH…”

Lovato herself and many of her fans were confused as to why Mexican didn’t show up in the results. In this YouTube video, Lovato “reveals that she is not Mexican-American,” saying that she is mostly of Spanish descent.

In reality, Lovato is Mexican. Her father was Mexican, which makes her half Mexican. The DNA test that she took only shows race, which explains why Mexican didn’t show up. 

Mexican is a nationality, and many Mexican people have Spanish and Native American ancestry. The reason why dates all the way back to the late fifteenth century.

Soon after the discovery of the Americas, Spanish colonization of the areas we know today as Mexico, Central America, and South America began. Spanish settlers and Native American people living there would often marry, and have kids who were both Spanish and Native American.

This resulted in a large majority of Mexican people being varying degrees of Spanish and Native American descent racially, while still being Mexican in nationality. This is also the reason why the vast majority of Mexican people speak Spanish.

Lovato herself was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her father was Mexican, and his family had been living in New Mexico for generations. 

So has being Mexican influenced her life at all?

Music, Identity, and Activism

Lovato’s father, Patrick Martin Lovato, was an engineer and musician, which could be one of the reasons she first became interested in music. Though her career began through her acting, singing has always been a key part of her roles, like in Camp Rock and Sonny with a Chance.

She has always been open in talking about her inability to speak Spanish, but that hasn’t stopped her from being able to sing it. Among her various albums, she’s released many songs featuring her singing in Spanish.

Lovato collaborated with “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi to release the song “Echame La Culpa,” or “Blame Me” in English. The song features both Lovato and Fonsi singing in Spanish, and isn’t her first bilingual song–she’s also recorded Spanish versions of her songs, like “This Is Me” or “Lo Que Soy,” and a Spanish rendering of “Tell Me You Love Me.”

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Demi talks about the pride she takes in her heritage: “Even though I don’t speak fluent Spanish, I love singing in Spanish. I love being able to represent the curvy sassiness of a Latina woman. It’s just a part of who I am, and I couldn’t be more proud to represent that.”

Lovato has also been involved in various forms of activism, such as a video of a PSA project called “The Enforcers,” encouraging Latinos to register to vote and make an impact in US elections.

Check out Demi Lovato’s involvement with the project “The Enforcers” in the YouTube video below.

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