26 August 2023 , 10:00
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Demi Lovato has been open about her struggles with addiction and the one night in 2018 that changed her life forever.
The singer is headlining the Saturday festival line-up for Wonderbus and was recently announced as a performer for the 2023 Video Music Awards. While she's performing and seemingly thriving now, it wasn't always that way for Demi. She suffered from bulimia, bipolar disorder, self-harm, and addiction for years before going to treatment.
But then one night in July of 2018 changed everything. Before that, Demi was six years sober. But a perfect storm of the Los Angeles party scene, a 'controlling' team, and the wrong crowd altered Demi's life.
She said her team called her 'selfish' for reaching out (Demi Lovato/Youtube)Around the time of her overdose, Demi's eating disorder was flaring back up. She claimed that her team controlled what she ate, even going as far as removing fruit from hotel rooms and the phone to stop her from ordering room service. She noticed that she was starting to spiral, and told Ellen DeGeneres on her show that she "didn't receive the help that I needed."
"I was stuck in this unhappy position. Here I am sober and I'm thinking to myself, 'I'm six years sober, but I'm miserable. I'm even more miserable than I was when I was drinking. Why am I sober?'" she said to the talk show host. She reached out to her team, and according to the singer, they said: "You’re being very selfish. This would ruin things for not just you but for us as well."
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Her team's casual and selfish attitude left her triggered. "When I heard that, my core issues are abandonment from my birth father as a child. He was an addict, an alcoholic... and I have vivid memories of him leaving. So when they left, they totally played on that fear, and I felt completely abandoned so I drank," she said.
She was found unconscious at her house (Internet Unknown)Then on July 24, 2018 she went to celebrate a friend's birthday at Sattle Ranch bar in Los Angeles. Witnesses at the bar said the Confident singer was drinking vodka sodas and "having fun." After the bar, a group of people joined Demi back at her £6million mansion. Reportedly, a source told Radar Online that Demi was "hanging out with the wrong mix of friends who didn't have her best interest."
At around 11 the next morning, her assistant reportedly found her unconscious in bed and called an ambulance. The assistant supposedly used Narcan, a medicine that is used to reverse or reduce opioid use and can be found in various pharmacies, and saved her life.
A month after the overdose, Demi returned to Instagram to reassure fans she was okay. In 2021, she released her YouTube documentary series Dancing With The Devil where she opened up about her overdose. "I had three strokes. I had a heart attack. I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today. I don't drive a car because I have blind spots in my vision," she said.