Demi Lovato, the former Disney star and singer, was found unresponsive in her Hollywood Hill 8-million-dollar mansion on Tuesday morning just before noon. Friends who found her immediately called 911 and administered Narcan to revive her.
Narcan is a drug that is typically used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. However, the star and the friends that rushed to her help denied that Demi overdosed on Heroin. TMZ reported that Demi refused to tell the paramedics what kind of drugs she had taken. In the past, it had been reported that Demi was suffering from cocaine and OxyContin addiction.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that Demi was given Narcan by her friends and that this may have saved her life. One of the singer’s friends had made sure to always have a dose of Narcan at hand because she was worried that something like this may happen. Good thinking!
The overdose did not come as a surprise to her friends according to a source as Demi had been seen partying and using heavily in the days leading up to the overdose. Just the night before the incident she reportedly was partying all night.
According to law enforcement no criminal investigation has been initiated as it is unknown what drug was used by Lovato and whether she administered the drugs herself.
Reportedly Demi’s mother Dianna De La Garza is at her bedside along with her aunt Kerissa Dunn. Kerissa posted on her social media Tuesday afternoon that 25-year-old Demi was responsive and awake and invited fans to pray for her. This social media post has since been deleted for unknown reasons.
Lovato’s representative offered a statement to Variety saying “Demi is awake and with her family who want to express thanks to everyone for the love, prayers, and support”
The statement further reads that “some of the information being reported is incorrect and they respectfully ask for privacy and not speculation as her health and recovery is the most important thing right now.
Fox announced that an upcoming episode of Beat Shazam featuring Demi that was scheduled to air on Tuesday has been replaced by another episode out of respect to the singer. Demi had tweeted about the show just a few hours before she overdosed on an unknown drug.
A Thursday concert in Atlantic City had also been canceled as reported by Variety.
Demi Lovato had been very vocal about her difficult struggles with drugs and alcohol and even wrote a song, “Sober”, outlining her battles and the difficult path to recovery ahead of her. Demi was performing that song just a few days earlier, on Sunday night at the California Mid State Fair, but it seemed that she had a hard time remembering the lyrics of her song.
In a documentary on YouTube Demi spoke candidly about her addiction and how she progressed deeper and deeper into addiction following her first encounter with cocaine at age 17. At that time she was just rocketing to fame with her Disney show Sonny With A Chance.
Lovato admits that she immediately fell in love with the way cocaine made her feel and that addiction runs in her family. Her dad, an alcoholic and drug addict, chose drugs over her family and she always searched for what must have been so powerful to keep him away from his family.
But shortly after her first encounter things spun out of control during a tour with the Jonas Brothers ending up with Demi using drugs daily and routinely. This episode ended with her first stint at a rehab facility.
While she felt great after leaving rehab it only took a short while before she relapsed into her old habits of addiction. Unlike before, however, now she was hiding her use form her friends and family. Demi even was publicly talking about her sober lifestyle while in reality, she was high on drugs. She describes this time as a nightmare going through 20 sober companions and constantly either being on drugs or desperately craving for drugs.
In 2012 she partied with strangers and threw up on her way to an American Idol appearance. This episode was too much for her management team. Her agents told her that if she did not sober up they would drop her as a client.
For the next 6 years, Demi stayed apparently sober while she was going through other struggles like an ongoing eating disorder and the separation of her then-boyfriend Wilmer Valderama.
‘I’ve learned that secrets make you sick. I’m learning how to be a voice and not a victim. I’ve learned sex is natural. I’ve learned that love is necessary, heartbreak is unavoidable and loneliness is brutal.
‘I’ve learned that the key to being happy is to tell your truth and be OK without all the answers.’