The pop singer has been open about her struggles and doesn't shy away from telling her side of the story.
The price of fame can be deadly for some. Scores of celebrities have passed away over the years due to their addiction/s. The celebrity life and the pressures that come with it make it hard for many of them to cope up, and their mental health fails. Sometimes, they receive help, and sometimes, they are mocked by the media. There have been drastic consequences that celebrities have had to wade through to keep on living and creating.
Demi Lovato, 28, is opening up about her struggles with addiction, something that first became a part of her life more than ten years ago. Lovato grew up in Dallas, Texas, before entering Hollywood through the children's TV series Barney & Friends. In 2008, she featured in the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock with the Jonas Brothers. That was also the first year she released a studio album called Don't Forget, as per BBC. Since then, she's become a pop sensation.
In 2020, she released a YouTube documentary, Simply Complicated, where she revealed that she first tried cocaine at the age of 17. The Sorry Not Sorry singer has been open about her struggles and doesn't shy away from telling her side of the story. In the latest documentary, Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil, she opened up about her health struggles as well.
"I’ve had so much to say over the past few years, wanting to set the record straight about what it was that happened," she said in the trailer for the documentary. "FYI, I’m just going to say it all, and if we don’t want to use any of it, we can take it out," the Confident singer added. "Any time that you suppress a part of yourself, it’s gonna overflow," she said.
She also revealed that she has faced some serious health conditions. "I had three strokes. I had a heart attack," Lovato said. "My doctors said that I had five to 10 more minutes."
In the documentary, her friends and family look skittish as they are told to reveal everything. They were shocked that Lovato would want her deepest darkest secrets to be known to the world. However, the 28-year-old embraced the public space to air her truth.
"I've had a lot of lives, like my cat. I'm on my ninth life... I'm rebirthing," Lovato said. "I'm ready to get back to doing what I love, which is making music."
Later, she told the Associated Press that she is still facing the effects of her health condition. "I don’t drive a car because I have blind spots in my vision. For a long time, I had a really hard time reading. It was a big deal when I was able to read a book, which was, like, two months later, because my vision was so blurry," she added.
However, her family worries about her. "Demi’s very good at making you believe she’s OK," her stepfather, Eddie De La Garza, said in the trailer. Lovato herself acknowledged in the trailer that she doesn't know why she's still sober. Talking about the intense pressure she dealt with, Lovato said that she "snapped" and "crossed a line."
In July 2018, she had an overdose and in August, she was quoted by BBC as saying, "I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction. This illness is not something that... fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome."
She added, "I want to thank God for keeping me alive and well. To my fans, I am forever grateful for all your love and support." She also said she's going to take "time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery", adding that "I will keep fighting".
After she left the hospital, Lovato spent several months in rehab. "She will be in rehab for several months and is doing an extensive program to ensure she gets the help she needs," a source had told E! News in 2018.
Two years since then, the singer performed at the 2020 Grammy Awards and faced other hardships like breaking up with her fiance. She is still working on her sobriety.
References:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45079386
https://apnews.com/article/demi-lovato-brain-damage-2018-overdose-d622c57b94a12b412a219a4e4af74a67
Cover source image: Getty Images | Photo by Jason Merritt
