No More Secrets
Cocaine, booze and pills took her to the brink of destruction. How she finally conquered her demons
Demi Lovato is opening up like never before about her epic struggles with drinking and drugs.
Demi Lovato has never been shy. Since finishing a threemonth stint in rehab in 2011, the former Disney star has spoken about her struggles. But the deeply personal revelations on her Youtube documentary Simply Complicated left fans stunned, and even surprised childhood pal Selena Gomez. “This was beautiful,” Selena commented on Demi’s Instagram post about the doc on Oct. 17. “You always continue to be bold and real.”
Bold is an understatement. In the 78-minute film, Demi opens up as she never has before. She reveals her drinking was so bad, she went through about 20 sober compan- ions, she was heavily using drugs even after she was temporarily placed in a psychiatric unit, and was promoting a sober lifestyle while wasted. Sources tell Life & Style one reason for her brutal honesty is to make sure her 15-year-old sister doesn’t make the same bad choices. “Those were the worst years of her life,” an insider says of Demi’s darkest days, which included drunkenly throwing up in a car on her way to perform on American Idol. “But
Demi got through them, and they made her the woman she is today.”
THROUGH THE FIRE
Making these confessions wasn’t easy. The former
Sonny With a Chance star shattered her image as a onetime Disney Channel darling by admitting she drank, smoked pot and even abused cocaine while working for the family-friendly network. Revealing her troubled past is worth it, though, when Demi thinks of her teen sis-
ter, Madison De La Garza. “Demi wants to create a safe space for Madison and other kids, girls and boys, who don’t feel like they fit in,” says the insider. “She’s very proud of her documentary.”
Demi never felt she fit in. Bullied in school, she turned to drugs and alcohol
as a way of escaping, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 18. Even after rehab, her path was littered with relapses. The star now confesses she was downing pills including Xanax and sneaking coke onto planes behind the backs of sober companions in 2012. Says Demi, “I wasn’t ready to be sober.”
But loved ones didn’t give up on her. At one point her management team threatened to walk away — and that’s when Demi cleaned up her act. “Demi has an amazing support group,” the insider says. “Her family is wonderful, but she also relies on the close-knit family she created.” Her new crew may lift her up, but the bravery comes from Demi herself. “She has gone through the fire, hit rock-bottom and gotten back on top,” says the insider. “She’s a true survivor.”