Finding a balance. Demi Lovato has cut out hard drugs from her life but has not set strict boundaries on herself when it comes to her sobriety journey, she revealed in the new issue of Glamour magazine.
Following her 2018 overdose, Lovato finally focused on getting healthy. When dealing with her eating disorder, she got to a place where she no longer felt guilty eating certain foods, instead of cutting everything out. So, she wanted to do the same when it came to certain substances.
“I called [my recovery case manager, Charles Cook] and was like, ‘Something’s not right. I’m living one side of my life completely legalizing and this other side following a program that’s telling me if I slip up, I’m going to die,’” the “Alone” singer, 28, said, noting that an “all-or-nothing world” of sobriety wouldn’t work for her.
She told Cook, “I think I want to try this balance thing in the substance side of my life too.” Although concerned, her team told her, “She deserves this opportunity to make that choice for herself,” Lovato recalled. “So, I did.”
She also explained that while smoking marijuana or having an occasional drink may not work for everyone, this is about her doing what is best for herself.
“A one-size-fits-all solution does not work for everybody,” the “Sober” singer added, sharing that saying she’d never smoke or drink ever again was only setting herself up for failure. “Any path that is right for someone else does not mean that it is an effective, meaningful, safe path for you. … What I’m encouraging people to do is just make choices for themselves. Autonomy, for me, is what changed my life.”
In July 2018, the songwriter was hospitalized after suffering a near-fatal overdose. “I had three strokes. I had a heart attack,” the two-time Grammy nominee said in the trailer for her YouTube docuseries, Dancing With the Devil. “My doctors said that I had five to 10 more minutes.”
In the upcoming four-episode series, Lovato details what happened the night of her overdose, why she relapsed and where she is today.
“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. I also for a long time had a really hard time reading,” she told Us Weekly and other reporters during the Television Critics Association panel last month. “It was a really big deal when I was able to read out of a book, like, two months later because my vision was so blurry. I’ve dealt with the repercussions, and they’re there to remind me what could happen if I get into a dark place again. I’m grateful for these reminders.”
The first two episodes of Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil premiere on YouTube Tuesday, March 23.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
