Simon Cowell tweeted a heartfelt message for the ‘X Factor’ judge after learning her father passed away.
Demi Lovato's estranged father, Patrick Lovato, passed away over the weekend.
The 20-year-old pop star's older sister Dallas Lovato confirmed the news on Twitter, writing "Rest in peace Daddy, I love you…" on Saturday night.
It's unclear what caused his death, but Lovato's 53-year-old dad reportedly battled cancer in recent years.
The "Skyscraper" singer and Patrick Lovato had a rocky relationship since he and her mother, Dianna De La Garza, divorced in 1994. Lovato told the Daily News in 2009 that it had been years since she spoke to her father.
"The last time I talked to him was two years ago," she said at the time. "You try to have faith in somebody, even when you're the last person that believes in him. But when somebody lets you down after you've been the only one there for them, and so many times, you don't know what else to do."
"I had to cut off all connection," she added. "It was hurting me too much."
In her song "For the Love of a Daughter," from her 2011 album "Unbroken," Lovato hints that her father may have had issues with alcohol.
"It's a very personal song," she later told the Daily Mail, "'Oh father, please father, put the bottle down...' The lyrics are self-explanatory about my relationship with my estranged father whom I haven't spoken to in five years. I wrote it when I was 16 and getting it out is like therapy."
While Lovato struggled with her own issues with bipolar disorder and self-harm in 2010, her father attempted to contact her, without success.
"I love her so much, and I just want her to call me," he told Radar Online last year. "This is the only way I can talk to her, I try to reach her but it never works."
It is unclear whether the "Give Your Heart a Break" singer had spoken with her father before he died.
Lovato, a judge on popular singing competition "X Factor," bowed out of a scheduled photo shoot Saturday after the news broke.
"My thoughts are with you Demi," show creator Simon Cowell tweeted on Sunday.
My thoughts & prayers are with you @ddlovato," Mario Lopez wrote, sharing a photo of the judges posing without her. "God bless you & your family."
Scores of Lovato’s fans took to twitter with messages for the singer, encouraging her to stay strong, like the tattoos sprawled across her wrist.
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