Demi Lovato Opens Up About Mental Health

— -- Singing sensation Demi Lovato wants Congress to make mental health a top priority and she heads to Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with members of Congress to raise awareness of mental illness.

Earlier today she spoke candidly at the National Council for Behavioral Health’s annual Hill Day in Washington, D.C., about her own mental health struggles. The popular singer credited her friends and families for her recovery.

“The people around me know my deepest, darkest secrets,” she told the audience.

Lovato has joined five leading mental health advocacy organizations to encourage people to use their own voices to make a difference in mental health. She kicked off the "Be Vocal" campaign in a livestream video on Periscope this afternoon.

Her trip to the nation’s capital coincides with her recent nude and make-up free shoot for Vanity Fair magazine. She told the magazine she wanted to do the untouched photographs to encourage other women to overcome body-image issues. She has publicly struggled with eating disorders and entered rehab in 2010 to address emotional and physical issues.

"What does it mean to be confident?" Lovato said, according to Vanity Fair. "I want to show the side of me that’s real, that’s liberated, that’s free. What if we do a photo shoot where it’s totally raw? Super sexy, but no makeup, no fancy lighting, no retouching and no clothing. Let’s do it here, let’s do it now.”

Lovato has not shied away from allowing her fans – known as "Lovatics" – to see glimpses of her personal life and raw emotions. Every week she usually starts with a “No Makeup Monday” self-portrait on Instagram. Another recent post showed her comforting her great-grandmother after the death of her great-grandfather “Papa."