Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas: Can They Still be Friends?

The romance! The breakup! Camp Rock 2 costars, tour mates, and former It couple Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas on being together . . . and drifting apart.

They're both talented, good-looking, and famous, but Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato don't exactly have the world on a string: Simpler pleasures, of the sort afforded to other kids their age, sometimes elude them. Earlier this year, when the Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam costars decided to test the romantic possibilities of their rock-solid friendship, they felt compelled to do so in public; when they broke up just a few months later, Joe announced it by issuing a statement, and Demi—always true to her loyal fans—decided to confirm the details on Twitter. "I kind of learned throughout this whole experience that having my private life public isn't as awesome as it might seem," the seventeen-year-old says with a rueful little laugh.
Even the process of scheduling their pre-split sit-down with Teen Vogue, for example—at which the then-couple agreed to interview each other—was complicated by their inability to appear together without risking mass hysteria. But for the most part, they seem to be fairly at ease with all the attention: After a daylong press junket, Demi's famous laugh is still as loud as ever, and Joe, 20, is chipper and ready to chat. (Naturally, they were more subdued when they spoke to Teen Vogue again after their breakup, but more on that in a bit.)

Demi Lovato: What's your favorite thing about me?
Joe Jonas: Do you really want me to answer that? Why don't you tell me: On set, what was your favorite snack? Because I think I already know.
Demi Lovato: The tomato-cheese quesadillas. Do you remember those? They were so good. What did you think it was?
Joe Jonas: Cheese sticks.
Demi Lovato: We didn't have cheese sticks!
Joe Jonas: Well, for some reason, I imagine you eating a lot of cheese sticks.
Demi Lovato: [Laughs] Thanks.
Joe Jonas: They just seem like something you would like.
Demi Lovato: I do love cheese sticks.
Joe Jonas: There you go.
Demi Lovato: So what was the hardest thing for you about making Camp Rock 2?
Joe Jonas: Finding time to sleep. There were so many things to do. If I wasn't on set, I was cooking or working out. What about you?
Demi Lovato: I think it was balancing sleep too. Even though I wasn't working out, I was dancing, sometimes for hours on end.
Joe Jonas: Have you ever been to a real summer camp?
Demi Lovato: Yeah, I went to church camp when I was in the sixth grade. What about you?
Joe Jonas: I went to sleepaway camp seven years in a row. I was such a pro. We had these relay races at the end of every summer, and the majority of the competitions were eating contests. Sometimes you would have to eat, like, a whole can of Spam; once I ate four raw potatoes. I didn't really recover for weeks after that.
Demi Lovato: Eww!
Joe Jonas: In some ways, making this movie felt like camp all over again. During breaks, we weren't hanging out in trailers—we were going down to the lake or playing in the woods.
Demi Lovato: We met when I auditioned for Jonas. What was your first impression of me?
Joe Jonas: I saw right away how smiley you were. Obviously, I didn't have a say in who was going to be cast, but it ended up being a good thing that you didn't get that role. If you had, you wouldn't have been in Camp Rock.
TEEN VOGUE: You guys were friends before you started dating. Whose idea was it to take the next step?
Joe Jonas: Mine.
TEEN VOGUE: So, Demi, you didn't already fancy him?
Demi Lovato: I had always fancied him. Want to know what actually happened? One night I asked him, "What is the deal? We're perfect for each other. What are you doing?" And he was like, "This is really awkward. I have to go."
Joe Jonas: I needed time to think.
Demi Lovato: And I thought, Great, I just ruined a friendship. But then the next day, he came knocking at my door.
Joe Jonas: Once she confronted me, I kind of confronted myself.
TEEN VOGUE: Joe's been in a couple of very high-profile relationships—with Taylor Swift, and Camilla Belle—and Demi's dated Trace Cyrus. Was it ever hard to see each other with other people?
Demi Lovato: Every girlfriend he had, I always wanted to have a friendship with, because I felt like if she was worthy enough to be with him, then she must be great. It sucked, watching, but I was always happy for him.
Joe Jonas: It wasn't easy.
Demi Lovato: Sometimes it was like, "So my boyfriend is so awesome." "Well, my girlfriend is really great." "Good for you!" [laughs]
TEEN VOGUE: You've sung together frequently. Do you like the same kinds of music?
Demi Lovato: I sent Joe some music from one of my favorite bands, Neon Indian. And he, in turn, introduced me to Michael Bublé. I also showed him who the Jonas Brothers were, and Joe's been a fan of them ever since.
Joe Jonas: Well, I used to like the Jonas Brothers.
Demi Lovato: And then they became mainstream.
Joe Jonas: She listens to harder music sometimes than I would. She'll say, "Listen to this great song."
Demi Lovato: And he's like . . . scary!
Joe Jonas: It's like, I'd much rather go see a happy movie.
Demi Lovato: And I would rather see an action film. So we alternate. We do other things too. We've had Easter egg hunts.
Joe Jonas: Not on Easter.
Demi Lovato: [Laughs] We've gone to Disneyland. We've made pizza. We go to dinner, on nice dates. And he cooks for me—he's good.
Joe Jonas: I love making Italian food. And coconut chicken.
Demi Lovato: I'm a vegetarian, though, so I just eat the vegetables.
Joe Jonas: I make vegetarian stuff too!
Demi Lovato: What are your goals?
Joe Jonas: I'd love to act more. I've had to turn down multiple movies because I was on tour, but it's encouraging to know that someday there might be the right role, the right timing. And I've been writing a lot of music, so hopefully very soon I'll have recorded a project of my own. I also want to get a boat and open a restaurant. What about you?
Demi Lovato: I want to be able to play more serious parts. I think it would be awesome to play an Angelina Jolie–type role in an action movie. Musicwise, I want to try new sounds. I want to be fearless.
TEEN VOGUE: Is there one question that no one ever asks you that you want to ask each other?
Joe Jonas: Demi, do you think you'll ever eat meat again?
Demi Lovato: Yeah. I'm not necessarily against it. I just don't like the taste, and for environmental reasons. What's the point of hurting the world if I don't like it? But I'm not saying I'll never have another hot dog for the rest of my life. My question for you is, Would you ever shave your head?
Joe Jonas: Yes. I've already asked my dad if I could.
Demi Lovato: Why does your dad get to decide?
Joe Jonas: I can't just shave my head. There's a lot more that goes into it than with the normal 20-year-old. But I will, for sure. I've always wanted to.
Postscript: Less than 48 hours after their interview, Joe and Demi decided—mutually, Joe insists—that it was better to be friends. A few days later they agreed to talk to Teen Vogue (this time separately) about their breakup. "It could have been better timing," admits Joe, calling from Washington, D.C. "But there's never really a good time for something like that. I really care about her." Demi, speaking from the Los Angeles set of her show Sonny with a Chance, was less guarded than her ex: Asked if she'd felt something was missing between them, she says simply, "No." Asked if that meant it was his decision to end things, she says, "Yeah."
"We haven't spent any time together since everything," she says, "because that would be awkward, but I'm sure things will go totally back to normal once we're on tour together. It's just that at this point I'd rather be hanging out with my girlfriends than seeing my ex." Joe, for his part, is eager to resume the close friendship they once had. "In this business," he explains, "it's really hard to find people who are going to be there for the rest of your life. When I met Demi, I knew right away that our friendship was really strong. I don't want to lose that ever," he says.

Edited for teenvogue.com. For the complete story pick up the August 2010 issue of Teen Vogue, on newsstands July 6!