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Friday, November 5, 2010

Pictured: The teen dancer Demi Lovato 'attacked in aeroplane fight' before checking into rehab



The back-up dancer at the centre of Demi Lovato's aeroplane meltdown has been identified at red-head Alex Welch.

The 21-year-old, who appeared in season three of America's Best Dance Crew with Beat Freaks, was on tour with the Jonas Brothers Live in Concert Tour when the confrontation occurred last week.

And pictures taken after the incident have emerged showing Welch sporting what appears to be bruised eye.

Lovato, 18, is understood to have instigated the altercation while on an aeroplane in Peru after a night out.

After the scuffle, the Disney star checked into rehab for 'emotional and physical' issues.

Alex, who has also performed with Pink, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, took to her Facebook page
today, saying: 'Not going to answer any questions. Thank you.'

More details of the fight have come to light, with a source telling People magazine: 'As she did on most nights off, Demi invited her band, dancers and her parents to dinner.

'Afterwards, she broke off with a very small group.'

The next day, tour managers and Demi's stepfather, Eddie De La Garza, questioned Demi about the night having been informed that they had been partying.

'When tour management found out about this, they talked to the people involved, including Demi', says the source.

'Demi reacted badly and perceived that someone on tour had told on her.'

She then confronted the girl in question whilst the group were on an aeroplane and there was a 'short, physical altercation' that was 'one-sided'.




According to Lovato's camp, the teen star realised she needed to take responsibility for her behaviour and decided to seek help.

The teen's father Patrick is blaming the pressures of Hollywood for his daughter's problems.

'There are a lot of pressures,' he told U.S. website RadarOnline. 'That is one of the things I worried about when she signed with Disney. It's just going to happen.'

However, Patrick confessed he has not seen or spoken to his 18-year-old daughter for a while.

'It’s been a couple of months,' he admitted. 'I've had cancer, I've been in the hospital for two months and I just got out. She hasn't visited, she's been too busy, she's been way too busy.'

A representative for the star announced on Monday she was leaving her tour with the Jonas Brothers to seek 'medical treatment for emotional and physical issues she has dealt with for some time.'

Lovato has struggled with body-image issues in the past, but her team has dismissed any claims that she is being treated for drugs.

'Demi has decided to take personal responsibility for her actions and seek help,' the spokesperson added.




'Demi and her family ask that the media please respect their privacy during this difficult time.

She regrets not being able to finish her tour, but is looking forward to getting back to work in the near future.'

Lovato's mother Dianna, her step-father and manager Eddie De La Garza and her half sister Madison, who appears on Desperate Housewives, looked grim as they returned to their Los Angeles home yesterday.

The Jonas Brothers said they had no plans to replace Demi for the remaining six days of the tour.

A source told E! Online that Demi may have found it difficult to tour alongside her ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas, who is now dating Twilight star Ashley Greene.




'After she split with Joe, it was just a whole bunch of drama, very awkward,' the source said.

'Everyone tried to be professional, but you could tell it was wearing down Demi.

'It was a taboo subject to bring up, but clearly she wasn't over Joe.'

The source added that the stress of the tour and promoting movie Camp Rock 2 may have been too much for the young star.

'The [Jonas] boys got a break after the tour, but Demi went a non-stop promo campaign for Camp Rock 2 and was pushing the single for that movie. It really was too much ask of a girl that young. She just couldn't handle it.'

'I think Demi has a lot of issues she is dealing with, but at the source of them all is a great deal of stress.

Lovato had a tough childhood, dropping out of school after being bullied.

Back in September, she discussed her past on TV talk show The View.

'I had no idea why [I was being bullied],' Demi told Barbara Walters on the U.S. daytime show.

'People would say: "They're just jealous girls." But you don't want to hear that - you want to know a reason, so you just keep pinning it on yourself.

'I wasn't going to be the girl who was like "Oh they're just jealous of me."'

She wrote more about her experiences in an October letter on the PACER's Teens Against Bullying website.

'Many people think of bullying as getting beat up in school, but it is so much more than that,' she wrote.

'For me it was all of the verbal harassment I had to deal with. People say sticks and stones may break your bones but names can never hurt you, but that's not true. Words can hurt. They hurt me. Things were said to me that I still haven't forgotten.'

Meanwhile, Demi's hit Disney show Sonny With A Chance, is still on a scheduled hiatus, but Disney today backed their star.

'We support Demi's decision to put her health first and we send her our best wishes,' a Disney spokesperson said.

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