Demi Lovato ‘Fell Asleep’ the Night of Her 2018 Overdose, Said Her Drug Dealer

Demi Lovato’s overdose in 2018 shocked many of her fans who had followed her journey since her Disney Channel days. In her 2021 docuseries, the singer reveals what happened that night, including how she was “left for dead” by her drug dealer. Here’s how his account of the night compares to her’s.

Demi Lovato explores her 2018 overdose in ‘Dancing with the Devil’

In July 2018, Lovato made headlines when she was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital after overdosing. At the time, the details shared were vague, with fans only receiving confirmation that she was in stable condition. After, Lovato headed back to rehab and kept relatively quiet on social media for several months.

But now, she’s telling her full story. In a YouTube docuseries, titled Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, the singer opens up about what led to her renewed drug use, as well as the night in question and its aftermath. In the trailer, she shares that she had “three strokes” and “a heart attack.”

She said she was ‘left for dead’

Lovato speaks about calling up her drug dealer that night after her friends left her for the evening in the docuseries. She smoked heroin laced with fentanyl, believing that she wouldn’t overdose because of the method in which she took the drugs. And there’s even more to the story.

“What people don’t realize about that night for me is that I didn’t just overdose. I also was taken advantage of,” Lovato said (via Entertainment Tonight). “When they found me, I was naked. I was blue. I was literally left for dead after he took advantage of me,” she added of the dealer.

He said she ‘fell asleep’ and he ‘tucked her in’

A month after her overdose, TMZ found the unnamed dealer and spoke with him directly. He admitted to a “sexual friendship” with Lovato, though he said they were “mostly friends.” Of the night of the overdose, he said, “When I was with her, she was fine the whole time,” adding, “when I showed up, she was a little drunk.”

In his account of the events, Lovato simply “fell asleep.” “It happens all the time. We hang out, do whatever we need to do, and she ends up passing out,” he said. “She passed out, and I leave as I normally do,” he continued, adding, “She was sleeping. I put her under the covers, tucked her in.”

Lovato almost didn’t survive the overdose

While that may be his interpretation of the events, Lovato and her assistant, Jordan, who found her, recount a much more dire scene. “I’m really lucky to be alive,” the singer said. “My doctors said I had five to 10 more minutes and had my assistant not come in, I wouldn’t be here today.”

After treatment, Lovato contacted the dealer again — for drugs and for sex that she hoped would “fix” how she felt about being “violated.” “It didn’t take anything away. It just made me feel worse,” she said. “But that for some reason was my way of taking the power back. All it did was bring me back to my knees of begging God for help.”

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.