Demi Lovato is opening up about her near-fatal 2018 drug overdose. In a trailer for her upcoming documentary, "Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil," which YouTube premiered on Wednesday, the 28-year-old pop icon reveals that she suffered three strokes and a heart attack while in the hospital. Speaking at the documentary's Television Critics Association panel on Wednesday, Lovato said the physical effects she suffered were detrimental.
"I was left with brain damage, and I still deal with the effects of that today. I don't drive a car, because I have blind spots on my vision," she said, per People. "And I also for a long time had a really hard time reading. It was a big deal when I was able to read out of a book, which was like two months later because my vision was so blurry."
Lovato said the after-effects were a strong reminder of the traumatic experience.
"I dealt with a lot of the repercussions and I feel like they are still there to remind me of what could happen if I ever get into a dark place again," she added. "I'm grateful for those reminders, but I'm so grateful that I was someone that didn't have to do a lot of rehabbing. The rehabbing came on the emotional side."
Lovato was found unconscious in her Hollywood Hills home from an overdose in July 2018. Weeks earlier she had released her single "Sober," which touches upon relapse. Lovato has always been vocal about her struggles with addiction and mental health and in an interview with People, the "Sorry Not Sorry" singer said that, although her experience was painful, she had no regrets.
"Everything had to happen in order for me to learn the lessons that I learned," she said. "It was a painful journey, and I look back and sometimes I get sad when I think of the pain that I had to endure to overcome what I have, but I don't regret anything."