Fresh off her moving performance at the 2020 Grammys, Demi Lovato returned to the spotlight on Sunday, February 2 to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl in Miami, Florida. This is the 27-year-old singer’s second performance since her July 2018 overdose.
Like her Grammys performance—in which she debuted a new song, “Anyone”—Lovato’s take on the national anthem was arresting and poignant. Of course, she was met with rapturous applause after finishing the song.
Here are some reactions to Demi’s performance:
Demi Lovato has been through so much over the past two years. After her overdose, she was hospitalized and then subsequently went into treatment. She addressed this herself in August 2018 on Instagram.
“I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction,” she wrote at the time. “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”
She continued, “I want to thank God for keeping me alive and well. To my fans, I am forever grateful for all of your love and support throughout this past week and beyond. Your positive thoughts and prayers have helped me navigate through this difficult time. I want to thank my family, my team, and the staff at Cedars-Sinai who have been by my side this entire time. Without them I wouldn’t be here writing this letter to all of you. I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery. The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say I came out on the other side. I will keep fighting.”
She seems to be in a much better place now. Shortly after her incredible Grammys performance, she took to Instagram and said, “What an unbelievable night. My first time back on stage in almost 2 years. So emotional for me. Thank you all for the love, support and for sharing this moment with me. I love you all.”
In late July news broke that Demi Lovato was hospitalized for a reported overdose. It wasn’t until August 5 that the singer opened up about the incident herself, writing on Instagram, “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction. What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.” Lovato ended her message by telling fans she was going to take some time to “heal and focus on [her] sobriety and road to recovery,” and she hasn’t updated her social media channels since.
Now, the singer’s mother, Dianna de la Garza, is talking about what happened. In a new interview with Newsmax TV, de la Garza confirms Lovato did overdose and that the entire ordeal still makes her “shake.” “It’s still a really difficult thing to talk about,” de la Garza said in the interview. “I literally start to shake a little bit when I start to remember what happened that day.”
According to de la Garza, she first heard about Lovato’s overdose from her friends and loved ones, who bombarded her with text messages expressing their condolences. What they were talking about exactly was still unclear to her, but it became all too real when she received a phone call from Lovato’s assistant, Kelsey. “[Kelsey] said, ‘Demi overdosed,’ de la Garza recalled.
That’s when she and her two other daughters, Dallas and Madison, rushed to the hospital. “We got there as quickly as we could,” de la Garza said. “Dallas and Madison and I jumped out of the car at the emergency room and ran into the emergency room to be by her side. [Lovato] just didn’t look good—at all. She was in bad shape. But I said to her, ‘Demi, I’m here. I love you.’ And at that point she said back to me, ‘I love you, too.'”
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De la Garza believes the positive thoughts she and Lovato’s legion of fans put into the universe are why she’s still here today. “I don’t think she would be here if it hadn’t been for those prayers and the good doctors and Cedars-Sinai,” de la Garza said.”They were the best. I couldn’t have asked for a better team of people to save her life.”
Fans will be pleased to know Lovato is now happy, healthy, and “working on her sobriety,” according to de la Garza. “She’s getting the help she needs,” she added. “That in itself encourages me about her future and about the future of our family.”
Watch de al Garza talk about all this and more in the video, above.
Several news outlets reported earlier today (July 24) that Demi Lovato was rushed to the hospital for an alleged overdose. Not much information is known at this time, but her rep told People, “Demi is awake and with her family who want to express thanks to everyone for the love, prayers and support. Some of the information being reported is incorrect and they respectfully ask for privacy and not speculation as her health and recovery is the most important thing right now.”
Lovato’s been quite transparent about her substance abuse and recovery in the past, frequently posting to social media and giving interviews about her process. Just last month, though, Lovato released a song called called “Sober,” which led many to believe she’d relapsed. Lovato’s journey through the ups and downs of sobriety has helped many people, so the last thing we need to do is sensationalize her situation. Instead, we can look to all the times Lovato and her loved ones have talked openly about her addictions. Below, a quick timeline of her path from then to now:
2009: Demi opens up extensively about her substance abuse history in her 2017 YouTube documentary, Simply Complicated. In it, the singer says she was bullied in school and felt like an outcast, but one day befriended a popular girl who said she had so many friends because she “partied.” That marked Lovato’s foray into alcohol and drugs.
The first time Lovato tried cocaine, though, was in 2009 at 17 years old when she was working on Disney Channel. “I was with a couple friends, and they introduced me to it,” she said. “I was scared, because my mom always told me your heart could just burst if you do it, but I did it anyways. And I loved it.” Lovato’s birth father was an addict and an alcoholic, and Lovato says she “always searched for what he found in drugs and alcohol” because he chose those substances over his family.
PHOTO: Getty Images
2010: In November 2010, at 18 years old, Lovato entered a treatment center for the first time to address her her issues with eating and self-harm, among other issues, according to E! News. One of the catalysts for this was the physical altercation she had with a female backup dancer, which she opens up about in Simply Complicated. “I just went up to her, and it was like a blur,” Lovato recalls. “Everyone was freaking out. I just remember going and sitting down, texting my mom, ‘I’m sorry.’ And I slept the whole day.”
Shortly after this, Lovato’s rep released this statement: “Demi has decided to take personal responsibility for her actions and seek help. She is doing just that. Demi and her family ask that the media please respect their privacy during this difficult time. She regrets not being able to finish her tour, but is looking forward to getting back to work in the near future.”
2011: Lovato left rehab in January 2011. That April, she revealed she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder while in treatment. “Looking back it makes sense,”she told People magazine at the time. “There were times when I was so manic, I was writing seven songs in one night and I’d be up until 5:30 in the morning.”
PHOTO: Getty Imagees
Lovato’s longtime manager, Phil McIntyre, notes in Simply Complicated that her post-rehab “glow” started to fade each day that passed. “I wasn’t working my program. I wasn’t ready to get sober,” Lovato says in Simply Complicated. “I was sneaking [cocaine] on planes, sneaking it in bathrooms, sneaking it throughout the night—nobody knew.” Around this time, Lovato went on what she she calls a two-month “bender,” in which she had an overdose scare.
“I was either craving drugs or on drugs. I was not easy to work with,” Lovato says about this time. “I was using while I had a sober companion, and I went through, like, 20 sober companions.”
2012: This substance abuse lasted until spring 2012. The last night she used alcohol, Lovato says she invited two “random people” to her hotel room and got incredibly drunk. She had to perform on American Idol the next day.
PHOTO: Getty Images
2013: Lovato checked into a Los Angeles sober house in January 2013, following several months of sobriety, in which she served as a judge on The X-Factor alongside Britney Spears.
“You really have to lean into the people that are trying to support you,” Lovato says in Simply Complicated. “You really have to surrender, because that’s when the change is ‘gonna happen.”
2013-2017: And change did happen. Lovato opened up about the struggles of staying sober to Glamour in November 2016. “Getting sober was difficult,” she said, “I went into rehab, I came out, and I didn’t stay sober. I still had issues occasionally. Now some days it’s difficult; some days it’s easy.”
The following March, she took to Instagram to celebrate five years of sobriety. “So grateful. It’s been quite the journey,” Lovato captioned the photo she posted. “So many ups and downs. So many times I wanted to relapse but sat on my hands and begged God to relieve the obsession.”
She continued, “I’m so proud of myself, but I couldn’t have done it without my higher power (God), my family, friends, and everyone else who supported me. Feeling humbled and joyful today. Thank you guys for sticking by my side and believing in me.”
2017: In October 2017, Lovato released Simply Complicated on YouTube, where she talked about her sobriety but also revealed she still grapples with her eating disorder. “Food is still the biggest challenge in my life,” she says in the doc. “I don’t want to give it the power to say it controls my every thought, but it’s something I’m constantly thinking about.” That same month she posted a side-by-side photo of herself currently vs. several years prior on Instagram Stories to show how far she’s come. “Recovery is possible,” she captioned it.
PHOTO: Instagram
2018: Lovato then celebrated six years of sobriety in March 2018, tweeting, “Just officially turned 6 years sober. So grateful for another year of joy, health and happiness. It IS possible. ??”
A few months later, in June, Lovato released a new song, “Sober,” which seemed to imply she’d relapsed. “Momma, I’m so sorry. I’m not sober anymore. Daddy, please forgive me, for the drinks spilled on the floor,” she sings during the chorus. Lovato then tweeted out the song, captioning it, “My truth.”
This brings us to what happened on July 24, 2018. TMZ broke the news that Lovato was rushed to the hospital for an apparent overdose. A source says Lovato is now “stable.”
Of course, Glamour will report more on Lovato’s current situation as soon as more information is available. We reached out to her rep and will update if and when we hear back.
If you or someone you know needs help with substance abuse issues, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
It was only last week that Kim Kardashian vowed to never let a shirt distract from her Gucci suit. She went topless and braless under an open blazer, and the fashion gods smiled upon her stylist and double-stick tape. Demi Lovato has done a similar look before, too, though it was—literally—a bit more buttoned up: Her Baja East suit was reminiscent of fancy pajamas, done in beautiful sapphire satin with a narrow shawl lapel.
Lovato’s latest look combines the two, and honestly, she could pass for Kim’s doppelgänger with the result. On Sunday, the singer stepped out onto the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards in London, where she was slated to perform. Styled by Law Roach, Lovato’s Styland wide-lapeled white plaid suit was more tailored than her satin suit, though wide-legged, paperbag waist trousers kept the look comfortable. She, like Kim, wore the jacket open, foregoing a bra or top.
PHOTO: Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images
But what really capped off the resemblance was her beauty look: long, monotone, dark brown hair—worn sleek, straight, center-parted, and all the way down to her waist. Even if the hot pink eyeshadow was a bit of a departure from what we’d see on Kim, the feathery, fluttery lashes and nude lipstick is a signature combo of the reality star’s.
Of course, we’ve got to give credit where credit is due. It’s worth noting that neither “Cher hair“—as the name implies—nor suiting worn without a top were invented by Kim. The Rapunzel-long length has become something of a status symbol on the red carpet lately. It’s popped up on everyone from Nicki Minaj (who’s been wearing hair down to her ankles) to Vanessa Hudgens to Rihanna. The same can be said for the pajama dressing trend.
But repetition is nothing if not noticeable. And it’s impossible to miss either of these women’s looks. How could you? They look incredible.
