Demi Lovato On Substance Abuse Misconception: Addictions ‘Stopped Me From Dying’

Demi Lovato got candid about her past addictions and how they saved her life.

Lovato spoke about her addictions when she joined Diane Guerrero's podcast "Yeah No, I'm Not Okay." During her interview, she addressed the misconception that "if people are using drugs or if they are dealing with an eating disorder or self-harm that they want to die" because it wasn't true for her. Lovato explained that her addictions "stopped me from dying."

"In the same way it almost killed me, it saved my life at times, because there were times that I dealt with suicidal ideations. And had I gone forward with that in that moment, instead of another destructive coping mechanism, I wouldn't be here to tell my story," she was quoted by E! News as saying.

"I turned to those coping mechanisms because I genuinely was in so much pain that I didn't want to die and I didn't know what else to do. I did the best that I could at times and now that I have other tools and other resources, I know how else to deal and how else to cope so I don't have to resort to those behaviors again."

In February, Lovato shared her near-fatal drug overdose back in 2018 which changed her life. The "Skyscraper" singer shared that the incident affected her body physically and her life emotionally. In fact, it left her with brain damage and was the reason she no longer drives a car.

"I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today. I don't drive a car, because I have blind spots on my vision," Lovato was quoted by People as saying. "And I also for a long time had a really hard time reading. It was a big deal when I was able to read out of a book, which was like two months later because my vision was so blurry.”

When Lovato looked back at the incident, she had no regrets and even said she won't change a thing about the aftermath. For her, it "had to happen in order for me to learn the lessons that I learned." She added that it was a "painful journey" but after going through all those things, she was very proud of herself.

"I'm so proud of the person I am today. And I'm so proud that people get to see it in this documentary and I couldn't be more grateful that I had someone by my side," she said.