‘Discarded and Abandoned’: Demi Lovato Reveals She was Sexually Violated and ‘Left For Dead’ on the Night of Her Overdose
Writer’s Note: This story includes details about sexual assault and drug addiction.
Demi Lovato pledged to leave it all on the line in her upcoming docuseries Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, and she did just that.
The four-part documentary premiered at the virtual South by Southwest festival on Tuesday night — episodes will be available to stream starting March 23 — and it detailed shocking and heartbreaking accounts of sexual assault, along with revelations regarding the pop star’s overdose in 2018.
Among some of the most horrific claims was that that Lovato was sexually violated and “left for dead” by her drug dealer on the night of her 2018 overdose.
“I didn’t just overdose. I was taken advantage of,” Lovato said regarding the night she nearly lost her life.
During an interview included in the documentary, Sirah Mitchell, a friend of Lovato’s, also said Lovato had been given heroin “laced with fentanyl” on that night, adding that Lovato’s drug dealer, “also ended up getting her really high and leaving her for dead.”
“When they found me, I was naked, blue. I was literally left for dead after he took advantage of me,” Lovato said of 2018 night. “When I woke up in the hospital, they asked if we had had consensual sex. There was one flash that I had of him on top of me. I saw that flash and I said yes. It wasn’t until a month after the overdose that I realized, ‘You weren’t in any state of mind to make a consensual decision.'”
“That kind of trauma doesn’t go away overnight,” she added. “I was literally discarded and abandoned.”
Lovato also disclosed that she lost her virginity when she was raped at 15-years-old by a fellow Disney star.
“I lost my virginity in a rape,” Lovato said. “We were hooking up but I said, ‘Hey, this is not going any farther, I’m a virgin and I don’t want to lose it this way.’ And that didn’t matter to them, they did it anyways. And I internalized it and I told myself it was my fault because I still went in the room with him, I still hooked up with him.”
Lovato was incredibly honest regarding how her wholesome image impacted her at the time, which in addition to her Christian upbringing, made her feel as though she had to remain silent about the rape.
“I was a part of that Disney crowd that publicly said they were waiting till marriage,” she continued. “I didn’t have the romantic first time with anybody, that was not it for me and that sucked. And then I had to see this person all the time, and so I stopped eating and coped in other ways: cutting, throwing up, whatever. And my bulimia got so bad that I started throwing up blood for the first time.”
Lovato, however, eventually shared the incident with adults on set, yet the alleged rapist “never got in trouble for it.”
“They never got taken out of the movie they were in,” she revealed. “I always kept it quiet because I’ve always had something to say. I don’t know, I’m tired of opening my mouth. Here’s the tea.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, you are not alone and help is available.
Text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
Watch the trailer above, via YouTube.
