Yesterday, MuchMusic (via ONTD) aired an interview special with Demi Lovato, ostensibly scheduled to calm down the hubbub of her rumored relapse and her reps’ denial that she had gone back to rehab. However, this special didn’t address the BlindGossip rehab rumors, though it was clearly meant to improve her image. Really, not a lot of new ground was covered at all.
Since Demi pulled out of a Jonas Brothers concert tour in 2010 citing exhaustion and personal issues, the main rumor that’s dogged her is an alleged cocaine addiction. In late 2010, RadarOnline claimed that there was a video of Demi snorting coke — following allegations from a fellow partier that she did it “like a pro” — but to the best of our knowledge, no video ever actually surfaced. Regardless, the mental association has stuck: A former child star posted a Reddit AMA a few months back where she claimed that Disney tried to distract from Demi’s coke problem; even though the poster was anonymous, everyone believed her.
The MuchMusic interviewer goes by the same assumptions that we’ve all had, mentioning “cross addictions” and asking if Demi’s drug and alcohol problems led to rehab. What’s strange is that while Demi reiterates that she sought treatment for emotional problems only, she never actually denies having problems with drugs and alcohol:
“It actually wasn’t a part of the diagnosis of why I was in rehab. I was there for — pull up the list — bipolar disorder, anorexia, binge-and-purge, cutting, depression, and trauma—post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s no secret that I’ve come out and talked about experimenting with drugs and alcohol, but I also self-medicated a lot as a teenager. It’s hard not to, especially when you’re growing up in Hollywood and you’re around everything you want. It sounds silly, not that this is rebellious at all, but I was going to Disneyland whenever I wanted to. Being in a city where your’e never told no, it’s really difficult not to be in a place where you don’t fall into the temptation.”
This sound bite hits a lot of the same points that Demi did a year ago, when she was discharged from rehab and did the media circuit. The keywords that have remained? Self-medicating, purging, “drinking and drugs,” “numbing the pain.” As far as I know, she hasn’t yet named those specific drugs. You would think that as an internet-savvy teenager, she would have seen the cocaine rumors and rushed to deny those if they were untrue.
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