Demi Lovato’s six years of sobriety was reportedly a struggle before her eventual relapse.
In 2010, Demi Lovato entered rehab and began the path toward her six years of sobriety, but the 25-year-old singer reportedly struggled privately with the pressure to remain clean before her eventual relapse and before being rushed to the hospital last week for an apparent overdose.
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“Demi never wanted to be a role model. Her sobriety over the last six years was a fight every single day,” one of Lovato’s longtime friends told PEOPLE. “After she finally got clean, her team was very hard on her and treated her like she was a kid. It’s so hard to have all these eyes on you all the time.”
The Grammy-nominated artist had celebrated six years of sobriety in March, though only months later she revealed in her song “Sober” that she had relapsed. Lovato’s friend claimed that the 25-year-old had “slowly started breaking away” from her tightly regulated life and that she craved more freedom over the last year, while other sources reported that “she started to feel this pressure,” which led to her relapse.
“She is so young and she also has a very rebellious personality,” the source said. “She wasn’t drinking or using at first, but she’s even said herself that she can’t be in a [party] environment. She thought she could handle it, but it’s a very slippery slope.”
Lovato had reportedly been out partying with friends to celebrate one of her backup dancer’s birthdays before she was found unconscious in her room by her assistant on Tuesday, July 24. The singer had to be revived with the lifesaving drug Narcan before she was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, where she currently remains following “complications” from the overdose. It is expected that upon her release from the hospital, Lovato will enter rehab again.
In the months and years leading up to her hospitalization, Lovato had been open about her struggles with body image, bulimia, addiction, and bipolar disorder, oftentimes sharing her struggles with fans on social media, becoming a role model for many.
In June, Lovato admitted in her song “Sober” that she had relapsed, a confession that was quickly met with support from both friends and fans. In the wake of her hospitalization, the single has re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 56, with streams up 199 percent over last week and downloads sold up 1,095 percent over the previous week.
