Demi Lovato's career almost ended before it began - she was almost crushed by children's star Barney when she was eight.

The singer/actress started her career as one of the giant purple dinosaur's sidekicks on hit show Barney & Friends.She loved the experience, but it could have ended so differently.Lovato, who celebrated her 17th birthday on Thursday (20Aug09), tells Starpulse.com, We were shooting one day (and) I almost got trampled by it (Barney) because I wasn't paying attention. And that was frightening because the suit's extremely heavy.