Breaking her silence. Demi Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza, spoke out for the first time about her daughter’s overdose.
De La Garza, 56, recalled the way she found out about Lovato’s condition. “It’s still a really difficult thing to talk about. I literally start to shake a little bit when I start to remember what happened that day,” she told Newsmax TV in an interview that aired on Tuesday, September 18. “I was actually looking at my phone and all these texts started coming in.”
Droves of people reached out to De La Garza to offer their prayers and support for the 25-year-old “Sorry Not Sorry” singer. “I was in shock. I thought, ‘What is going on?’” she noted before adding: “My heart just dropped.”
The Camp Rock star was hospitalized in July after she was found unconscious in her home. A source revealed to Us Weekly at the time that her friends used Narcan to reverse the effects of her apparent drug overdose.
The musician’s mother then received a phone call from Lovato’s assistant. “She said Demi overdosed. So I was in shock. I didn’t know what to say. It was something I never, ever expected to hear as a parent about any of my kids,” she explained. “I said, ‘Is she OK?’ And she stopped for a second and she said, ‘She’s conscious, but she’s not talking.’ I knew at that point that we were in trouble.”
De La Garza and other family members made their way to the hospital. “She just didn’t look good, at all,” she noted. “She was in bad shape, but I said to her, ‘Demi, I’m here. I love you.’ At that point, she said back to me, ‘I love you too.’ From that point on, I never allowed myself to ever think that things weren’t going to be OK.”
The Falling With Wings author credited her faith with getting her through the time the Disney alum spent in critical condition. “We just didn’t know for two days if she was going to make it or not,” she said.
De La Garza also gave an update on Lovato’s health during the interview: “I can honestly say today that she is doing really well. She’s happy, she’s healthy, she’s working on her sobriety, and she’s getting the help she needs.”
The “Confident” singer released a lengthy statement about the incident in August. “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction,” she wrote on Instagram. “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”
She added: “I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery. The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say I came out on the other side.”
Us reported on August 4 that Lovato had been released from the hospital and taken to a rehab facility outside California, where she would stay for an extended time.
