Demi Lovato opens up about her near fatal overdose…
The 28-year-old half-Mexican American singer/actress has premiered the trailer to her upcoming docuseries, Dancing With the Devil.
The nearly three-minute clip from the YouTube Originals series, which explores her near fatal overdose in July 2018, features the star honestly discussing substance abuse, with Lovato at one point admitting, “I don’t know why I’m sober anymore.”
Elton John and Christina Aguilera also appear to discuss the difficulties of fame at a young age and her recovery, while the “Commander in Chief” singer’s family and friends explain how good she is at hiding her struggles. The interviews with her nearest and dearest are interspersed with a smiling and seemingly happy Lovato, before cutting to images of her partying one month before her OD.
“I snapped,” Lovato says in the trailer, which offers a first listen of her original song also titled “Dancing with the Devil.” After her family and friends recount their fears for her life as she fought to stay alive in the hospital, Lovato explains that she had three strokes and a heart attack. But now, she’s ready to take control of her future.
“I’ve had a lot of lives — like my cat, you know? I’m on my ninth life,” she says. “I’m ready to get back to doing what I love, which is making music.”
After premiering the teaser, Lovato discussed the documentary and the lingering effects of her overdose with reporters, including how the strokes and heart attack impacted her. “I was left with brain damage and I still deal with the effects of that today,” she shared. “I don’t drive a car because of blind spots in my vision. … I had a lot of trouble reading.”
Though Lovato says she’s still dealing with the repercussions, she’s grateful for them and wouldn’t change a thing. “They’re still there to remind me what could happen if I ever get into a dark place again. I’m grateful for those reminders,” she said. “It was a painful journey, and I look back and sometimes — I get sad when I think about the pain I had to endure, but I don’t regret anything. I’m so proud of the person I am today.”
The singer also shared that the reason she wanted to be as honest and open as she is in Dancing With the Devil is she wanted to set the record straight and clear up any rumors. “I wanted to reveal it all for my fans and say this is who I am and this is where I am today,” she said. “If it helps you, then I hope that it can. That was ultimately my purpose in putting this out.”
While the teaser focuses on the near-fatal overdose, Lovato told reporters that there’s more to the four-part series. “It’s not just about my journey. I touch on so many topics in this documentary that’s not just about substances … past traumas that I’ve dealt with but have never spoken about,” she said. “Waking up in 2018, I realized there is still so much work I have to do on myself. … It’s about self-acceptance, it’s about not conforming to what other people think you should conform to. You are who you are.”
Dancing With the Devil is set to open the SXSW film festival, which is happening March 16-20. The four-part docuseries premieres on YouTube March 23.
