Demi Lovato Says She Suffered Heart Attack, Strokes And Brain Damage From Overdose

(HuffPost) – Demi Lovato’s drug overdose in 2018 resulted in the singer having three strokes and a heart attack, leaving her with physical limitations that still affect her.

Lovato reveals publicly for the first time details about the near-fatal incident in “Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil,” a four-part docuseries debuting March 23 on YouTube Originals. In the trailer, Lovato says doctors told her family she had five to 10 minutes to live.

“I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today,” she said in a video call on Wednesday. “I don’t drive a car because I have blind spots in my vision. For a long time, I had a really hard time reading. It was a big deal when I was able to read a book, which was like two months later, because my vision was so blurry.”

Lovato said the lasting repercussions “are still there to remind me of what could happen if I ever get into a dark place again.”

The 28-year-old singer, who sported pink hair on the call, has been working since age 10, when she appeared on the TV series “Barney & Friends.” She went to rehab for the first time at 18, after struggling with bipolar disorder, anorexia and bullying.

Lovato re-launched her singing career at last year’s Grammy Awards and sang the national anthem at the 2020 Super Bowl before the coronavirus pandemic took hold. Last month, Lovato sang on a TV special marking President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Despite her near-death experience, Lovato wouldn’t change what happened to her. “Everything had to happen in order for me to learn the lessons that I learned,” she said. “I look back and sometimes I get sad when I think of the pain that I had to endure to overcome what I have. I’m so proud of the person that I am today. One of the main reasons I’m coming forward is so I never have to live that life again.”