Demi Lovato isn't afraid to stand up for herself physically if she is disrespected.

The 'Cool for the Summer' hitmaker, who sought treatment in rehab for an eating disorder, self-harming, alcohol and drug abuse in 2010 after she hit a back-up dancer while on a flight to South America, insists she would never attack anyone now, but would defend herself if she felt disrespected.

Speaking to the new issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, she said: ''I'm not proud of the mistakes that I've made. At the same time, my past shows what I'm capable of. I'm a wiser person today. On a plane in Colombia, I probably won't hit you. But if you disrespect me, I can't say that I won't come at you. I'll just never throw the first punch any more.''

The 22-year-old beauty is also critical of her own gender and believes girls can be very ''catty'' which is not a good thing.

She said: ''I wish I could word this in a way that doesn't sound bitchy, but I don't f**k around. Girls can be catty with one another. Nobody really tries to pill s**t on me because they know I physically don't put up with it.''

The brunette beauty admits she thought she was better than a lot of people after first getting sober, but has recently reconnected with a lot of her old friends.

She said: ''I used to be judgemental and stuck up when I had a year-and-a-half sober. I recently rekindled friendships with people, because I thought that if you weren't sober then you didn't have your shit together. I thought I was better than you. I'm not longer that judgemental person.''