- Music
- 21 Sep 18
The mother of singer Demi Lovato says her daughter is "happy" and "healthy" as she continues on her road to recovery from drug addiction.
The pop star was rushed to hospital with a reported overdose on 25 June and on her release entered rehab. The overdose "nearly killed her", according to news reports at the time.
Demi Lovato's mother Dianna De La Garza now says that the 26-year-old star is "doing really well" in her recovery. You can watch the full interview below.
"She's happy. She's healthy," Dianna De La Garza said in an interview with Newsmax TV. "She's working on her sobriety, and she's getting the help she needs. That in itself encourages me about her future and about the future of our family."
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Demi Lovato made her public first statement after the drug overdose back in August, saying that addiction is "not something that disappears or fades with time". She added: "it is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet."
She also wrote in the Instagram post: "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. I will keep fighting."
It was originally claimed by TMZ that the singer had overdose on heroin on 25 June, but the popular website then backtracked on this report.
TMZ said that law enforcement sources had told them she had taken the Class A drug, but the next morning they quoted a source connected to the singer who insisted that "Demi Lovato did not OD on heroin".
A spokesperson for her family said: "Some of the information being reported is incorrect and they respectfully ask for privacy.”
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Regardless of what type of drug she may or may not have taken, audio of the emergency call revealed that Demi Lovato was unconscious upon the arrival of emergency services.
She had to be revived with a drug called Narcan, a medication used to reverse the effects of a narcotic overdose.
Lovato, who had previously struggled with cocaine and Oxycontin addictions, had been clean for six years but recently fell off the wagon.
In 2010, the singer was treated for bipolar disorder, bulimia, self-harm and addiction. After relapsing, she then entered a sober living facility for a year and managed to remain sober for the past six years.... until her recent relapse.
In fact, Demi even opened up about sobriety when she released a single entitled Sober only back in June.
“The ultimate breaking point would have been when Demi was on tour, and she lashed out at one of her dancers, physically,” her mother De La Garza once told People magazine.
“That was the defining moment where we all said, as a family: She needs help. She needs serious help. And it doesn’t matter what happens to her career — we need to focus on getting her the help she needs.”
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After she was rushed to hospital, members of the star's entourage had threatened to quit if Demi didn't check into rehab.
"She could die if she doesn't, and that's not going to be on my watch that we did nothing," one of them is reported as saying.
Another friend told People magazine: "She needs to get out of this whole system that she has been in since she was 13."
Another friend has now said that she believes the only way Demi will survive is if she turns her back completely on the music scene. "If she wants to survive, she needs to get out of this business. Right now her health and her life are at stake," said the friend.
"In the end she has to want to get help. She can't be forced into treatment. It won't work. It's too soon to say what the next steps are in terms of treatment. Everyone just wants to help get her to a health place."