Demi Lovato opens up about being sexually assaulted as a teen in new documentary
The 'Heart Attack' songstress said in the film about the July 2018 night during which she has said she almost died, "I didn't just overdose. I was taken advantage of."
Washington: American singer-songwriter Demi Lovato’s docuseries sees the former Disney star opening up about her past experience more than ever before – especially a sexual assault by her drug dealer on the night of her overdose.
According to People Magazine, the 28-year-old star opened up about her past in the four-part series ‘Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil’ — which premiered Tuesday (local time) at the SXSW Film Festival.
The ‘Heart Attack’ songstress said in the film about the July 2018 night during which she has said she almost died, “I didn’t just overdose. I was taken advantage of.” A friend of Lovato’s, Sirah Mitchell, explained Lovato had been given heroin “laced with fentanyl” that night.
“He also ended up getting her really high and leaving her for dead,” Mitchell says about the dealer in the documentary.
“When they found me, I was naked, blue. I was literally left for dead after he took advantage of me. 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 realised, ‘You weren’t in any state of mind to make a consensual decision,'” said Lovato.
As reported by People Magazine, in the series, the ‘Stone Cold’ songstress is emotional as she recounts dealing with the trauma that she faced not only from the night of her overdose but with a previous sexual assault.
“When I was a teenager, I was in a very similar situation. I lost my virginity in a rape,” she said in the film.
While acknowledging that she and her alleged attacker had been “hooking up” at the time, Lovato said she had made clear she hadn’t been “ready” to lose her virginity.
Lovato said, “I was part of that Disney crowd that publicly said they were waiting until marriage. I didn’t have the romantic first time. That was not it for me — that sucked. Then I had to see this person all the time so I stopped eating and coped in other ways.” The songstress then said, ” I’m gonna say it,” and shared what had happened to her. However, her alleged attacker “never got in trouble for it.” “They never got taken out of the movie they were in. I always kept it quiet because I’ve always had something to say. I don’t know, I’m tired of opening my mouth,” she said.
After her two sexual assault experiences, Lovato attempted to “take control” by getting in contact with her abusers to do it “her way”. She said about her teenage assault on her, “I called that person back a month later and tried to make it right by being in control. All it did was make me feel worse”. “Both times were textbook trauma re-enactments, and I really beat myself up for years which is why I had a really hard time coming to terms with the fact it was a rape when it happened,” she said elsewhere.
As Per People Magazine, ‘Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil’ premieres on YouTube on March 23.
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