Demi Lovato is revealing why you’ll never see her behind the wheel of a car.
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, the singer and Michael D. Ratner, director of Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil, joined the Television Critics Association for a panel on the upcoming documentary.
During the discussion, the pop star explained how the film highlights the very real consequences of her near-fatal drug overdose in July 2018, adding that the “brain damage” she suffered at the time still affects her to this day.
“I don’t drive a car, because I have blind spots on my vision,” she explained. “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.”
Though these health issues are still present, Demi expresses gratitude because they serve as a reminder “of what could happen if I ever get into a dark place again.”
Moreover, the former Disney Channel star acknowledged the side effects could’ve been worse. She said, “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.”
Even so, Demi said she “wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Everything had to happen in order for me to learn the lessons that I learned,” she shared. “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.”
This is the second time the singer has created a documentary about her struggles with sobriety. She first opened up about seeking treatment in the 2017 documentary Simply Complicated.
And though she relapsed shortly after the film’s premiere, the star said she finds strength in sharing her story with others. “I am holding myself accountable,” the “Stone Cold” performer shared. “I learned a lot from my past. I was sober for six years and I learned so much from that journey. And the main thing that I learned from that journey was coming forward and talking about my story held me accountable through those six years.”
She continued, “That’s a huge reason as to why I’m doing this, but I think that I was just so proud of the growth that I experienced and something inside of me was really excited to share that with people.”
Fans can watch the four-part documentary when it premieres on YouTube on Mar. 23..
