Demi Lovato has had 3 strokes and a heart attack following her near-fatal overdose on fentanyl-laced opioids in 2018. She sustained permanent brain damage that resulted in blind spots that prevent her from being able to drive and which forced her to relearn how to read. Is she completely “sober” now? Nope.
Is it any of the public’s business? Not really except she’s a celebrity and when you step into the limelight, you automatically lose a certain amount of privacy. That being said, Demi just wrapped up a documentary, “Dancing with the Devil,” in which she is the topic of discussion and the narrator. Available for public consumption March 23th, Lovato’s YouTube Doc shifted from brand promotion to an addiction PSA. In “Dancing with the Devil,” Demi openly discusses her drug addiction, sexual trauma, struggles with self-harm, disordered eating, and yes, stardom.
A long-time mental health advocate, she has brought it upon herself to open up the discussion about her drug problem and “moderate approach” to sobriety, being clear that she is not “abstinent” and that her way is not for everybody. Moreover, she clearly states that “there is no one path for everybody”.
Lovato said the best way to describe her recovery is “Cali Sober”. Cali Sober is a slang term that’s come to mean abstaining from drinking and other substances and only smoking cannabis. But she’s not strictly “Cali Sober” because she also drinks alcohol moderately. Her approach to recovery has brought on an enormous amount of judgment and criticism from the recovery community. Abstinence is still the gold standard. And harm reduction or moderation is not looked upon favorably by the majority of the recovery community which is primarily steeped in 12-step fundamentalism.
Her recovery coach, Charles Cook, has condoned her choice which doesn’t necessarily make it harmless or right. Who knows what training or licensing he has and moreover who wants to lose a high-end client? She told him that she used a balanced approach to tackle her eating disorders and said, “I think I want to try this balance thing in the substance side of my life too.”
Addiction aside, there is the basic health aspect to consider. She had those 3 strokes and that heart attack. The research on alcohol, strokes, and heart attacks seems to be a mixed bag. Some studies say one drink per day can lower your rate of ischemic stroke or a second heart attack. Others say there’s no connection. What is certain is that moderate or heavy drinking (more than one drink per day) will increase your risk of heart attack or stroke. In addition, using cannabis is linked with a definite increased risk of heart attack or stroke.
Despite being an icon to millions of young women, Demi is not the poster child of recovery. Nobody is or should be. Addiction is so complicated— her own compounded by sexual trauma and the stress of fame— that everybody’s path is different. She’s correct in that. And 12-step recovery with its “if you mess up you will die” mentality can feel very harsh and controlling to somebody who’s already trying to regain control of her life. She recently came out as queer, a nebulous identification within the LGBTQ community that allows for fluidity, so it’s understandable that she’s loathe to be put in any boxes or claim any specific labels that feel restrictive.
She’s just a pop star. She’s not a recovery expert and unfortunately most “recovery experts” aren’t even recovery experts. But it’s not hard to see the risks involved with her approach to recovery but she also has the right to self-determine. So let Demi find her way as a struggling 28-year-old, just like we would anybody else. Her recovery is not a reasonable example for others and it is none of our business.