Demi Lovato was 'conflicted' after 'abusive' father's death

Singer Demi Lovato has revealed that she had mixed feelings when her dad Patrick Lovato passed away.

In a YouTube video about her song "Father", the 23-year-old singer said: "I was very conflicted when he passed because he was abusive," reports aceshowbiz.com.

Though her late dad was abusive, Lovato admitted he had a kind heart.

"He was mean but he wanted to be a good person, and he wanted to have his family," the singer said.

"When my mom married my stepdad he still had this huge heart where he would say, 'I'm so glad Eddie's taking care of you and doing the job that I wish I could do'," she added.

The "Cool for the summer" hitmaker then revealed that her late dad was abusive because he suffered from mental illness.

"He knew he wasn't capable of raising a family, and it was because of his mental illness," she said.

What her late dad experienced then became the inspiration of her song "Father".

"To know that it wasn't fully his fault really was saddening to me. I wanted to write about it. I wanted to process it," she revealed.

The singer had been estranged from her father since 2007. He passed away in 2013 after a battle with cancer.