Demi Lovato’s History With Substance Abuse, Explained
"I was either craving drugs or on drugs. I was not easy to work with," Lovato says about this time. "I was using while I had a sober companion, and I went through, like, 20 sober companions."
2012: This substance abuse lasted until spring 2012. The last night she used alcohol, Lovato says, she invited two "random people" to her hotel room and got incredibly drunk. She had to perform on American Idol the next day.
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2013: Lovato checked in to a Los Angeles sober house in January 2013, following several months of sobriety, during which she served as a judge on The X-Factor alongside Britney Spears.
"You really have to lean into the people that are trying to support you," Lovato says in Simply Complicated. "You really have to surrender, because that's when the change is gonna happen."
2013–2017: And change did happen. Lovato opened up about the struggles of staying sober to Glamour in November 2016. "Getting sober was difficult," she said, "I went into rehab, I came out, and I didn’t stay sober. I still had issues occasionally. Now some days it’s difficult; some days it’s easy."
The following March she took to Instagram to celebrate five years of sobriety. "So grateful. It's been quite the journey," Lovato captioned the photo she posted. "So many ups and downs. So many times I wanted to relapse but sat on my hands and begged God to relieve the obsession."
She continued, "I'm so proud of myself, but I couldn't have done it without my higher power (God), my family, friends, and everyone else who supported me. Feeling humbled and joyful today. Thank you guys for sticking by my side and believing in me."
2017: In October 2017 Lovato released Simply Complicated on YouTube, in which she talked about her sobriety but also revealed she still grapples with her eating disorder. "Food is still the biggest challenge in my life," she says in the doc. "I don't want to give it the power to say it controls my every thought, but it's something I'm constantly thinking about." That same month she posted a side-by-side photo of herself at the time and from several years prior on Instagram Stories to show how far she's come. "Recovery is possible," she captioned it.
