Answer Addiction

Tag: pop stars

  • Selena Gomez Gets Candid On Instagram: "Depression Was My Life"

    Selena Gomez Gets Candid On Instagram: "Depression Was My Life"

    “I think before I turned 26 there was like this weird time in my life [where] I think I was kind of on auto pilot for about five years.”

    In a recent Instagram post, pop starlet Selena Gomez announced she would be taking a break from social media. She also held a live stream to speak to her fans about what she’s been going through.

    “Update: taking a social media break. Again. As much as I am grateful for the voice that social media gives each of us, I am equally grateful to be able to step back and live my life present to the moment I have been given,” she wrote in the post. “Kindness and encouragement only for a bit! Just remember- negative comments can hurt anybody’s feelings. Obvi.”

    Gomez also hosted an Instagram live stream where she spoke with fans for the last time before her hiatus. Fans asked her questions in the chat about a wide variety of topics, including her mental health.

    “Depression was my life for five years straight,” she revealed to her fans. “I think before I turned 26 there was like this weird time in my life [where] I think I was kind of on auto pilot for about five years. Kinda just going through the motions and figuring out who I am and just doing the best I could and then slowly but surely doing that.”

    Having her every action put under the spotlight for public scrutiny led to an “annoying” pattern where she constantly dealt with a “fear of what people are going to say.”

    To a fan who asked how to forget someone, Gomez offered a little advice.

    “Well, you can’t really just like forget. You kinda have to figure out why you’re still holding onto them. Like why do you want to forget them? And that’s where you start,” she said, before adding “Sometimes forgetting can be a bad thing.”

    This level of candidness from Gomez to her fans is not unprecedented. She has always been vocal about her struggles with mental health and her battle with lupus, an autoimmune disease. In February, the singer went to rehab for a mental health tune-up.

    “She felt like she needed to get away and focus on herself with no distractions. She came back feeling very empowered. She wants to go again later this year. She feels and looks great. She’s still working on new music and is excited about it,” someone close to Gomez told People.

    Gomez is also taking a social media break this time not because things are bad, but because they are good.

    “I enjoy my life,” she said on Good Morning America. “I don’t really think about anything that causes me stress anymore, which is really nice.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Demi Lovato's Mother On Overdose: "We Didn't Know If She Was Going to Make It"

    Demi Lovato's Mother On Overdose: "We Didn't Know If She Was Going to Make It"

    “I literally start to shake a little bit when I start to remember what happened.”

    The mother of singer Demi Lovato spoke at length about her daughter’s drug overdose and recovery in an emotional interview for Newsmax TV.

    Dianna De La Garza said that she still finds it difficult to recall the events of the July overdose, which she learned about through phone texts. Though alarmed by her daughter’s condition, she said that her faith provided her with the strength to support Lovato through her hospitalization and subsequent rehabilitation.

    “I can honestly say today that she is doing really well,” she revealed.

    As TMZ reported, paramedics arrived at Lovato’s home in the Hollywood Hills in the early hours of July 24, and found the performer unconscious from an apparent drug overdose. She was treated with the overdose reversal drug Narcan before she was transported to a Los Angeles hospital, where she remained for 12 days before being released and taken to a rehab facility outside of California. 

    In an Instagram statement posted on August 5, the pop star thanked her family and the staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for getting her through the ordeal, as well as her many fans who had expressed their support during her hospitalization. “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,” she wrote in her statement.

    In her interview with Newsmax TV, De La Garza said that she still struggles with recalling or talking about the events of July 24. “I literally start to shake a little bit when I start to remember what happened,” she said.

    She said that she found out about her daughter’s condition when texts from individuals expressing their concern began to flood her phone.

    Confused by the outpouring of support, De La Garza said that her mood quickly changed when she received a call from Lovato’s assistant.

    “She said Demi overdosed,” recalled De La Garza. “It was something I never, ever expected to hear as a parent about any of my kids. I said, ‘Is she okay?’ And she stopped for a second and said, ‘She’s conscious, but she’s not talking.’ I knew at that point that we were in trouble.”

    De La Garza said that Lovato was in “bad shape” when she saw her at the hospital, but needed her to know that her family was with her.

    “I said, ‘Demi, I’m here, I love you.’ At that point, she said back to me, ‘I love you too.’ From that point on, I never allowed myself to ever think that things were going to be okay.”

    While Lovato lingered in critical condition, De La Garza turned to her faith to help her dispel worries about Demi’s health.

    “We just didn’t know for two days if she was going to make it or not,” she recalled. But the singer pulled through with the help of the hospital staff and support from her many fans. “I just feel like the reason she is alive today is because of the millions and millions of prayers that went up every day,” said De La Garza.

    Today, as Lovato continues to work on her recovery while in rehabilitation, De La Garza said that her daughter is “doing really well. She’s happy, she’s healthy, she’s working on her sobriety, and she’s getting the help she needs.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Demi Lovato Reveals She Relapsed In New Song "Sober"

    Demi Lovato Reveals She Relapsed In New Song "Sober"

    “To the ones who never left me we’ve been down this road before, I’m so sorry, I’m not sober anymore,” the pop star sings in her new song.

    Pop star Demi Lovato is forthright about not only about the positive side of her recovery, but also her struggles along the way. The singer-songwriter’s new single “Sober” is a candid confession about a recent relapse after six years of sobriety.

    “I don’t know why I do it every time/ It’s only when I’m lonely/ Sometimes I just wanna cave/ And I don’t wanna fight,” she sings. “Mama I’m so sorry I’m not sober anymore/ And daddy please forgive me for the drinks spilled on the floor/ To the ones who never left me we’ve been down this road before/ I’m so sorry, I’m not sober anymore.”

    Lovato goes on to apologize to fans, as well as herself: “I’m sorry that I’m here again/ I promise I’ll get help/ It wasn’t my intention/ I’m sorry to myself.”

     

    Lovato is a champion of mental health and recovery support. She herself celebrated six years of sobriety back in March, marking the occasion on social media—“Just officially turned 6 years sober. So grateful for another year of joy, health and happiness. It IS possible”—as she does every March.

    She even brings “therapy sessions” to fans before her concerts. “We have speakers from all over and we’re also helping out with different charities from around the country, so it’ll be incredible and a very moving and inspiring experience,” she said.

    The goal of the mobile therapy sessions is to shed the stigma of struggling with mental health or asking for help.

    “Shame’s just such a lousy feeling,” she said. “There’s nothing positive that comes out of shame.”

    Last October, while accepting the Spirit of Sobriety award at a fundraising event hosted by the Brent Shapiro Foundation, the pop star described the consistent work that goes into her recovery.

    “Every day is a battle. You just have to take it one day at a time, some days are easier than others and some days you forget about drinking and using, but for me, I work on my physical health, which is important, but my mental health as well,” she said.

    Her recovery relies on a multi-faceted approach, like anyone else’s. “I see a therapist twice a week. I make sure I stay on my medications. I go to AA meetings. I do what I can physically in the gym. I make it a priority,” she said.

    Rapper Iggy Azalea—who once credited Demi with inspiring her to be more open about receiving therapy at a time when she was “mentally exhausted”—tweeted her support for the “Sorry Not Sorry” singer.

    “All of us who love you only want to see you happy and healthy,” she wrote. “I’m proud of you for having the guts to reveal your truth to the world again… I pray you’ll choose recovery again.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lily Allen Discusses Addiction, Self-Medicating

    Lily Allen Discusses Addiction, Self-Medicating

    “I’ve used drugs and alcohol as medicine, almost, when things have been really bad. If I’m in a bad place, psychologically, I shouldn’t be anywhere near drugs and alcohol.”

    British singer Lilly Allen first broke through in 2006 with her album Alright, Still, and now she’s back with her first new album in four years, No Shame.

    As her new release hits, Allen is opening up about her battles with addiction, and why she may not be completely sober (though she’s not partying anymore).

    Allen told People, “I definitely don’t rely on substances and alcohol in the way that I used to. It’s a bit about having made a conscious decision to leave that stuff behind. I would wake up in a haze in the middle of the Sheezus [album] tour and be like, ‘I’m 3,000 miles away from my kids.’ Why? What is all of this about?”

    When asked if she got sober for her children, Allen said, “I think it was age. Waking up in a tour bus, really hungover with makeup running—it’s not a good look when you’re 30. It’s okay when you’re 19!”

    Allen said that her drinking “got to a really bad stage, and I was definitely using alcohol as a crutch. I’m just very glad I’m not there anymore.”

    Asked if she considers herself sober, Allen replied, “No, I wouldn’t actually. I would just say I don’t party anymore… I don’t take drugs anymore. I wouldn’t say I gave up drinking, because I might like, once in a blue moon, have a glass of wine at dinner.”

    Allen said she was being stalked, which kept her close to home and away from outside temptations. “I think my sobriety was sort of forced by that. I wasn’t gonna sit at home and drink on my own, so I stopped; I stopped going out publicly and to places where people would maybe think that I would be.”

    Once she had her “unintentional detox and respite from it,” Allen noticed that she was “thinking a lot more clearly… In the middle of the Sheezus [tour], I did do AA—I did my 90 meetings and 90 days, so I did do that, I went through that process, and I found it really helpful.”

    Allen added, “To be honest with you, I don’t think I’ve ever been an addict, so to speak. I think that I’ve used drugs and alcohol as medicine, almost, when things have been really bad. If I’m in a bad place, psychologically, I shouldn’t be anywhere near drugs and alcohol. But if I’m okay… I just don’t, I’m just not really in a space where I want to drink.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com