Demi Lovato has spoken about her near-fatal overdose and how she had to “essentially die to wake up”.

The pop star was rushed to hospital in 2018 after overdosing on heroin laced with fentanyl. She has since said if she had been found five-to-10 minutes later, she would have died.

Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning, Lovato opened up about the years leading up to her overdose, which saw her battle eating disorders and addiction. “I’m in recovery for a bunch of things and I had been sober for how many years, but I’m still miserable,” she said of that time. “For the first time in my life, I had to essentially die to wake up.”

She added that she had no control over her life in those years. “I also had to grow up and take control, and that’s something I haven’t done until the past two years of my life where I’m now in control of my finances, I’m now in control of the food that I eat, how often I work out,” she explained.

Lovato explained that rather than be completely sober now, she is instead “California sober” – meaning she drinks and smokes weed in moderation. “I don’t really feel comfortable explaining the parameters of my recovery to people, because I don’t want anyone to look at my parameters of safety and think that’s what works for them,” she said.

“Just like I feel the complete abstinent method isn’t a one-size-fits-all method for everybody, I don’t think that this journey of moderation is a one-size-fits-all solution for everybody too.”

 

The pop star will open up more about her experiences in the new documentary Demi Lovato: Dancing With The Devil. The series premiered at SXSW earlier this week (March 16) and will arrive on YouTube on March 23.

In the docuseries, Lovato revealed she was raped as a teenager, before suffering the same ordeal on the night she overdosed.