On June 21, 2018 Demi Lovato released the lead single from her seventh studio album and needless to say, the song shocked the world. For years, Lovato has been vocal about her past dealing with drug addiction, alcoholism, and self harm. She proudly celebrates her sobriety both on social media and in her book, "Staying Strong: 365 Days A Year". However, with the release of her single "Sober", her truth was revealed.

Demi's six years of sobriety came to an end.

She relapsed.

The news was shocking. Heartbreaking. How could someone who had always seemed so strong and so in control of her recovery relapse? She had been a role model to me for years, inspiring me to also beat my addiction of self harm just as she had done. But suddenly, she became human and reminded us all just how tricky addiction is.

I've looked up to Demi Lovato since she admitted herself to rehab in 2011 because of her transparency and willingness to use her voice for change. I admired her for her strength and her story of staying in recovery. It had never once crossed my mind that she would someday relapse and I would lose the reason that I had looked up to her for so long.

So on Thursday morning when I opened Twitter and was greeted with a new song that openly admitted that Demi was no longer sober, I could no longer look up to her for being sober. I could no longer call her my role model for completely beating her addictions. I had to face the truth that someone who had inspired me for years was not the same girl that I had always though that she was.

She wasn't perfect.

But she was still my role model.

Demi doesn't have to beat her addictions all the time for me to look up for her. As far as I'm concerned, she's trying. Addiction is tricky. As Demi said in her 2012 MTV documentary "Staying Strong", "This is an addiction, and I am going to deal with it for the rest of my life." She's only human. She may have inspired me for years, but she does not have super powers that make her immune from things as horrible and defeating as addiction.

She is still honest. She has not hidden the fact that she relapsed. She has not left us all under the impression that she is still six years sober. She is honest about her struggles and she still uses her voice for good.

And for that, I am still proud to call Demi Lovato my role model.