Trigger Warning: This article mentions drug and alcohol addiction
In 2018, pop singer Demi Lovato was hospitalized for an overdose after six years of sobriety. The details surrounding the overdose were unclear and TMZ initially reported a heroin overdose. However, a source connected to Lovato said that was false. On March 23, 2021, YouTube released an original documentary focused on the lead-up to the singer’s overdose entitled Dancing with the Devil. The documentary shows behind-the-scenes footage and reveals more details about the singer’s struggles with addiction.
Lovato checked into a rehabilitation center in 2013, and her life quickly became closely monitored to help the singer with her eating disorder. Lovato said that she’s had so many people come in and out of her life. She also said she feels like she’s had more decisions made for her than she has made herself. Lovato said on Ashley Graham’s podcast in 2018 that she believed her unresolved issues with food gave her a false sense of recovery, leading to her relapse with substances.
“I went out to a friend’s party and none of my friends knew what I was using,” she said. “I kept it very hidden from everyone. That is one thing that I was very good at—hiding the fact that I was addicted to crack and heroin,” Lovato told VICE News.
Lovato is not the only celebrity who has struggled with addiction.
Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx was declared legally dead for two minutes due to a drug overdose in 1987. “From the outside looking in, I was living the dream. But in reality, I was in the throes of a disease I couldn’t control, addicted to heroin,” Sixx wrote about his rockstar lifestyle. Today, Sixx is 19 years sober.
Marvel actor Robert Downey Jr. also has fought a battle with addiction. At one point, the famous face behind Iron Man was addicted to alcohol, cocaine and heroin. RDJ also got arrested for racing his car down Sunset Boulevard while intoxicated.
Michael J. Fox had his battle with addiction after his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Fox was diagnosed in the early 1990s and turned to alcohol as a form of escape.
Lady Gaga has not been shy about her former addiction to marijuana. “I was addicted to marijuana,” she revealed on the Elvis Duran radio show. “Although I think it’s the best drug to choose from when you’re playing around and experimenting, I just want young kids to know that you actually can become addicted to it.”
Friends actor Matthew Perry revealed that while playing the hilarious Chandler Bing, he was keeping his dark secret of drug addiction. Perry entered rehab twice while the show was on the air. Once in 1997 for a Vicodin addiction and again in 2001 for Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines and alcohol.
It is heartbreaking that so many celebrities battle addiction while in the spotlight. Not only do they have to go through the steps of getting help, but they’re also having to do it when everyone is watching. Not to mention celebrities probably don’t want their fans knowing about it so they won’t worry. However, addiction is one of those things that reminds us that celebrities are real people too.
