On Aug. 20, singer and "The X-Factor" judge Demi Lovato will turn 21 years old, but unlike most young adults her age, the recovering addict won't be celebrating the big day with a round of shots and a huge party. Instead, Lovato will join her mom and sister Dallas in Kenya for charity work, and according to Dallas Lovato's latest tweet, he family has left for Africa today.
"I'm going to do a lot of charity work down there with an organization called Free the Children," Lovato dished to Perez Hilton of her humanitarian birthday. "While I'm there, you have to safari. I wanted to do something different than your typical 21st birthday thing."
A 21st birthday can be very triggering with someone struggling with addiction, and since Lovato is proud to have stayed clean and sober for over a year, she wants to make sure she stays away from any temptation and that she's distracted from feeling bad on her special day.
"I've already had those [big, crazy] birthdays," she said to Perez Hilton. "Now that I've gotten older and gone to rehab, I've learned to celebrate life. I'm so thankful that I've even lived to 20 years old, let alone, God bless, if I make it to 21."
In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan for her August 2013 cover issue, Lovato opened up about her struggles with bullying, anorexia and bipolar disorder, as well as the challenging relationship with her estranged birth father, who died earlier this year of cancer.
So while her birthday will be celebrated very differently from fellow ex-Disney star Selena Gomez's, as Gomez spent her 21st sipping whiskey and partying it up with her closest friends, Demi Lovato will surely have an amazing experience on her 21st, getting to visit a new country and give back, though it won't be without its bittersweet moments.
"I'm not gonna lie. It's going to hurt a little bit," Lovato admitted to Cosmo. "Sometimes I wake up and I'm like, why can't I be normal? Why can't I just...you know? But I can't, so I don't. I look at birthdays as celebrating another year of your life. You've made it another year, an entire year. Some people don't make it to 21."
And indeed, it's been a big year for Demi Lovato. She's already begun filming for the third season of the hit U.S. version of "The X-Factor," having gotten close to her fellow judges and mentors Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio, and of course, still enjoys her banter with her boss and good friend Simon Cowell. This May, she released her fourth album, "Demi," which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, its lead single "Heart Attack" peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Oh, and she's directed her first music video for her latest single, "Made In The USA!"
Not to mention, she'll be visiting Kenya for the first time with her sister and mother, as big sis Dallas Lovato recently tweeted about how excited she is to leave for their special trip, and we have a feeling some truly amazing photos will come out of Lovato's experience, though she's not 100 percent sure what she'll be doing for Free the Children yet.
*This article has been updated to note a change.
Packing for my trip to Africa tomorrow!!! 10 days for the "Save the Children" foundation!!
— Dallas Lovato (@dallaslovato) August 14, 2013
