Demi Lovato was ‘physically dependent on heroin’ before her near-fatal overdose
Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil premiered on the singer’s YouTube channel on 23 March. (YouTube/ Demi Lovato)
Demi Lovato has revealed the extent of her heroin use in her new YouTube documentary series, Dancing with the Devil.
Lovato’s career, experiences as a child star, addiction and recovery are all documented in her new series Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, which premiered on her YouTube channel Tuesday (23 March).
In the first episode of the documentary, Lovato and her friends detail the months before her overdose and she admits for the first time that she used heroin and crack cocaine.
Shortly after her six-year sobriety anniversary, Lovato said she began trying substances she had never used before. One evening, she began with a glass of red wine, and ended the night having mixed meth, marijuana, ecstasy and oxycontin. “That alone should have killed me,” she said.
Within two weeks of that night she was introduced to heroin and crack. “I crossed a line that I should never have crossed in the world of addiction,” she said.
Her friends described how skilled Demi Lovato was at hiding her addiction, but it continued to worsen. Lovato said that at the time of her overdose, while also relapsing into her eating disorder, she was “miserable” and “just snapped” under the pressure of her sobriety.
She said: “Because I’d been so open and honest with what I had dealt with in my life, I felt like I had to be this perfect role model… Six years is a long time to be told, ‘Slip up and you’re going to die.'”
Demi Lovato ‘turned blue’ after overdose
Eventually, while on a trip to Bali, Demi Lovato realised she was “physically dependent” on heroin.
“I started using recreationally, and obviously, you can’t do that with heroin before you become addicted to it,” she says in the documentary.
On 24 July, 2018, the singer was found unconscious and unresponsive in her home by her assistant Jordan Jackson, and was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to be treated for an opiate overdose.
Jackson said: “There was one point where she turned blue. Her whole body turned blue. I was like, she’s dead for sure. It was the craziest thing I had ever seen.”
One of Demi’s best friends, Matthew Scott Montgomery, added: “She should be dead, 100 per cent.”
Miraculously, after suffering three strokes and a heart attack related to her overdose, Lovato survived. But, she said, she still suffers with the physical consequences today.
She said: “I had three strokes. I had a heart attack. I suffered brain damage from the strokes. I can’t drive anymore. I have blind spots in my vision. When I pour a glass of water, I’ll totally miss the cup because I can’t see it anymore.
“I’ve also had pneumonia because I asphyxiated and multiple organ failure.” She later added: “I’m really lucky to be alive.”
