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Home / Entertainment

'They were prepared for this': Demi Lovato 'had been using meth and heroin prior to overdosing'

Daily Mail
26 Jul, 2018 02:42 AM7 mins to read

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The Disney star has battled substance abuse for years and spent some time in rebab in 2010.

New details about the days leading up to Demi Lovato's alleged heroin overdose are coming to light as the singer continues to recover at a Los Angeles hospital.

TMZ reports that Lovato had been partying through the night at her $8 million Hollywood Hills home prior to her overdose, which occurred just before noon on Tuesday.

The singer's friends revived her with Narcan according to a law enforcement source and notified members of Lovato's team about the situation, but then fled before emergency workers arrived on the scene.

Multiple sources close to Demi are adamant however that the singer did not overdose from heroin, thought they do admit that the singer seemed to have relapsed in the past few weeks, the MailOnline reported.

One source said that Lovato began using again after firing her sober coach earlier this month, while The Blast reports that a nurse at the hospital told police the singer had been using methamphetamine prior to her alleged overdose.

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Officers on the scene reportedly took photographs of drug paraphernalia they found in the house and remnants of what looked to be illegal drugs in the home but do not plan to press any charges since they were responding to a medical call and not a criminal report.

Meanwhile, People reports that Lovato and her friends were prepared for the worst, with a source saying: 'She and her friends were on a binger the entire night. They keep Narcan on hand for such situations – they were prepared for this.

'The people she has been hanging around lately aren't her real friends – they don't have her best interests at heart. She's pushed her true friends away.'

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On Tuesday afternoon, Lovato's sister Madison De La Garza was seen heading into the singer's home.

The 16-year-old actress arrived in a SUV a few hours after emergency workers arrived on the scene and took Lovato to the hospital, despite the singer's requests that she not receive treatment.

That was the only person seen heading into the house on Tuesday, where members of the media stood outside.

It is unclear how long Lovato will now stay in the hospital before returning home, or if she will head straight to a rehabilitation facility.

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Demi Lovato, 25, was revived with Narcan by friends who she had spent the night partying with after her alleged heroin overdose. Photo / Getty
Demi Lovato, 25, was revived with Narcan by friends who she had spent the night partying with after her alleged heroin overdose. Photo / Getty

'Demi is awake and with her family who want to express thanks to everyone for the love, prayers and support,' said the singer's rep.

'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.'

Mike Manning, Lovato's long-time guitarist, was one of the closest people to the singer to sound off on Tuesday, going after the group of unknown individuals who were with Lovato at the time of her alleged overdose.

'Anybody who was with Demi last night and actually calls themselves a friend should actually be disgusted with themselves. SICK!!' wrote Manning.

'You can never trust anyone. Never can know if your "friends" are truly on your side or not.'

He went on to write: The snakes are always alive. Don't be fooled. The devils lurk in the shadows. I am disgusted by the self-serving demons.'

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Manning then said he planned to expose everyone who was involved, adding: 'I almost lost my sister today.'

It was previously reported that Lovato had been at a birthday party on Monday night at Saddle Ranch for one of her backup dancers.

It is unclear if those dancers returned to Lovato's home after the birthday celebration, but DailyMail.com has seen a since-deleted Instagram story that confirms at least three members of Lovato's dance crew were in fact at Saddle ranch on Monday.

In those stories, two of the women are seen riding the mechanical bull at the restaurant and bar, but Lovato is not seen at any point in the videos and pictures shared that night.

This was all happening at the same time that Lovato was on the road with her hugely successful Tell Me You Love Me World Tour, and as her song Sober made its way up the charts.

On Sunday night, her last appearance before the overdose, Lovato forgot the words to that song.

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Lovato has been incredibly open about her struggles with alcohol and drugs, and earlier this year debuted her single Sober in which she detailed her battles and path to recovery.

She performed that song on Sunday night at the California Mid-State Fair, her last appearance before being hospitalized on Tuesday.

During the performance, Lovato struggled to remember the words to her song.

Trouble: On Sunday night, Lovato forgot the words to her hit song Sober while performing at the California Mid-State Fair (above). Photo / Instagram
Trouble: On Sunday night, Lovato forgot the words to her hit song Sober while performing at the California Mid-State Fair (above). Photo / Instagram

Lovato will now be taking a break from the road for a bit, with LiveNation announcing that her Atlantic City performance that was scheudled for Thursday has been cancelled.

She is then off the road until September.

Demi got candid about her drug struggles in the YouTube documentary Simply Complicated, which was released last year.

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In that documentary Lovato said that she tried cocaine at 17, right around the time she was shooting to fame on the Disney show Sonny With A Chance.

I loved it. I felt out of control with the coke the first time that I did it,' explained Lovato.

She also spoke about how addiction ran in her family, and her mother's attempts to keep her daughter away from drugs.

'My dad was an addict and an alcoholic,' explained Lovato.

'I guess I always searched for what he found in drugs and alcohol because it fulfilled him and he chose that over a family.'

It was while on tour with the Jonas Brothers that Lovato said her problem got out of control, resulting in one period where she used drugs ever day for two months.

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At 18, she checked into rehab for the first time.

She said she felt great after leaving rehab, but soon found herself relapsing on drugs.

'I wasn't working my program. I wasn't ready to get sober. I was sneaking it on planes, sneaking it in bathrooms, sneaking it throughout the night,' said Lovato.

'Nobody knew.'

TMZ reported Lovato was uncooperative when paramedics asked her what she had taken, but officers did take photo of drug paraphernalia in her home. Photo / YouTube
TMZ reported Lovato was uncooperative when paramedics asked her what she had taken, but officers did take photo of drug paraphernalia in her home. Photo / YouTube

She even gave interviews about her new sober lifestyle while high on drugs she said, whicle cycling through sober companions.

'I was using while I had a sober companion, and I went through like 20 sober companions. I was either craving drugs or on drugs,' explained Lovato.

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'I was not easy to work with. It's embarrassing to look back at the person I was.'

One night, she mixed cocaine and Xanax she said, in what was almost a fatal mistake.

'I started to choke a little bit, and my heart started racing. I remember thinking, "Oh my God, I might be overdosing right now,"' said Lovato.

Her low point came in 2012 when she partied all night with strangers in a hotel and threw up on the way to her American Idol appearance.

That is when her management team informed her that if she did not get sober they would no longer keep her as a client.

For the next six years Lovato stayed clean as her career thrived, though she admitted to dealing with other problems like an ongoing eating disorder.

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That came back in a big way in 2016 she said after her split for Wilmer Valderama, with the singer saying that being alone triggers the disorder.

'When I was in a relationship with Wilmer I went three years without purging, and when we broke up, that's one of the first things I did,' said Lovato.

'The less I have to think about food, the easier it is to go about having a normal life, and I don't want to let anybody down, so when I do have moments when I slip up, I feel very ashamed.

'What started the relapse was missing Wilmer. When I feel lonely my heart feels hungry and I end up binging.'

She also hints in her song Sober that she recently relapsed, and has been candid about her struggles with mental health as well over the years.

'The last decade has taught me a lifetime of lessons,' said Lovato towards the end of the documentary.

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'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.'

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