Demi Lovato 'awake and with her family' after apparent overdose: A look at her struggles with drugs and alcohol

Demi Lovato is “awake and with her family” following an apparent overdose.

Yahoo Entertainment confirmed the singer was rushed to the hospital Tuesday for a medical emergency. TMZ reports that when paramedics arrived at Lovato’s home, the 25-year-old singer was unconscious; she was revived with Narcan, an emergency treatment for narcotic overdoses. TMZ claims she suffered what appeared to be a heroin overdose; however, a source tells Yahoo “it’s not heroin.” Regardless, the good news is that Lovato is OK.

“Demi is awake and with her family who want to express thanks to everyone for the love, prayers and support,” a rep for the singer tells Yahoo in a statement. “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.”

The scary incident comes one month after Lovato released her personal new ballad “Sober,” in which she sings about falling off the wagon. Although the former Disney star didn’t elaborate on what caused her to relapse, Lovato has been open about battling alcohol and substance abuse — namely cocaine and prescription pills — in the past. She has never mentioned heroin.

In her 2017 YouTube documentary Simply Complicated, Lovato revealed that she began using drugs at age 17. “I felt out of control the first time I did it. My dad was an addict and an alcoholic,” she admitted. “Guess I always searched for what he found in drugs and alcohol because it fulfilled him and he chose that over a family.”

Demi Lovato performs during the California Mid-State Fair on July 22 in Paso Robles, Calif. (Photo: C Flanigan/Getty Images)

The former Camp Rock star first went to rehab in 2010. Along with seeking treatment for alcohol and drugs, she received therapy for an eating disorder and self-harming. However, she relapsed shortly after leaving.

“I wasn’t working my program, I wasn’t ready to get sober. I was sneaking [cocaine] on planes, I was sneaking it in bathrooms, sneaking it throughout the night,” she explained in Simply Complicated. “I went on a bender of, like, two months where I was using daily. … There was one night when I used a bunch of coke and I popped a few Xanax bars, and I began to choke a little bit. My heart started racing, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, I might be overdosing right now.’”

Lovato — who was also diagnosed as bipolar — said she went through “about 20” different sober companions. When her whole team threatened to walk out on her unless she got help, she entered rehab again in 2012.

In March, the “Skyscraper” singer celebrated six years of sobriety. She opened up about the triumph during an emotional moment at one of her concerts: “Yesterday, six years ago, I was drinking vodka out of a Sprite bottle at nine in the morning, throwing up in the car, and I just remember thinking, ‘This is no longer cute. This is no longer fun. And I’m just like my dad.’ So I made changes in my life. … The reason why I became so open about my story is because I know that there are people here tonight that need to ask for help, and I want them to know that it’s OK. Mental health is something that we all need to talk about, and we need to take the stigma away from it. So let’s raise the awareness. Let’s let everybody know it’s OK to have a mental illness and addiction problem.”

But signs of trouble surfaced in April. While enjoying a night out with Disney alums in Hollywood, it appeared Lovato was holding a drink in one photo. She defended herself online, saying “it was red bull.”

Lovato began cryptically tweeting about her “truth” and starting a “new chapter.” Weeks later she dropped one of her most emotional singles to date, “Sober.”

“Mama, I’m so sorry I’m not sober anymore / And daddy please forgive me for the drinks spilled on the floor,” she sings. “To the ones who never left me / We’ve been down this road before I’m so sorry, I’m not sober anymore.” Another lyric reads, “And I’m sorry for the fans I lost who watched me fall again / I wanna be a role model, but I’m only human.”Shortly after the song’s release, she got a new tattoo on her pinky finger that says “Free” in cursive. However, some were concerned when reports surfaced of a rift between Lovato and her longtime life coach and sober companion, Mike Bayer. He is also the CEO of CAST Centers, a treatment center co-owned by Lovato.

Whispers of trouble continued when Lovato appeared to hit the nightclub scene again. Last week, a Radar Online report claimed the singer had been going “off the rails” over the past two months. “Demi relapsed about two months ago because she stopped the accountability portion of her recovery. No one can get her attention. Her team tried to hire a sober coach, and she went nuts,” a source said.

Lovato has also apparently been hanging with a new, partying crowd including rapper G-Eazy. Although he denied they were dating, some close to Lovato were allegedly concerned about the new friendship given he was arrested for cocaine possession in May.

Last week, she cryptically tweeted about making mistakes.