Demi Lovato’s recent apparent overdose shocked fans and many of her closed ones, including family members who felt powerless to help her in the past.
The singer made headlines Tuesday when she was rushed to the hospital after being found unconscious. Three days later, the singer remains hospitalized and in recovery.
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A source who was formerly in the singer’s inner circle told PEOPLE Lovato’s mother, Dianna De La Garza was “aware” of the singer’s struggles with substance abuse but did not feel she could address the issues — as the singer is the one paying the bills.
“Her mother’s a very sweet person who has zero — when I say zero, she has zero say,” the insider says of De La Garza’s experiences with her daughter’s previous downward spiral. “I’ve worked with a lot of kids. All those mothers [in Hollywood], become not-mothers. They become slaves to their kids.”
“Demi’s mother was like a slave to her,” the source continues. “Anything Demi wanted [she would get]. Even at 16, she’s like, ‘I’m paying the bills of this house, this house is my house.’”
The source added De La Garza “loves her daughter and she really wants her daughter to get better.”
In February, the mother of three opened up to PEOPLE about her daughter’s tortured past from her Disney days to her recent success.
De La Garza revealed in her 2018 memoir Falling with Wings that Lovato began to spiral at the age of 16, disobeying curfew and even meddling in drugs and alcohol.
“Every night, I’d set an alarm for 2:00 a.m. If she wasn’t [home], I called her until she walked through the front door. What do you say to your child when she is the one paying most of the bills?” De La Garza wrote in her book.
After the latest incident, Lovato’s family is reportedly making plans to help her seek further treatment for her issues with addiction.
“Her family’s been trying very hard to talk to her about her relapse, and in the last two weeks she wouldn’t discuss it with them at all,” a source told Entertainment Tonight. “Their hands were tied because she is an adult and didn’t want help. She has been going downhill for weeks, and between her past with drugs and her bipolar disorder, they felt helpless.”
“Demi has the love and support of her family,” the source continues. “Right now their plan is to keep her away from those people in her life that don’t support a clean and sober future.”
