For Demi Lovato — who has struggled with substance abuse herself — the death of acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman hit home in a powerful way.
The actor was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on February 2, a needle still inserted in his arm and countless bags of heroin reportedly left untouched.
Yet another brilliant artists taken from the world too soon, Hoffman was supposedly clean for 23-years, but was tempted to take a drink at The Master wrap up party in 2012. That led to others.
The website TMZ reports that the late actor acknowledged to some confidants that those drinks put him in a downward spiral and he even entered rehab after trying heroin, because he was afraid it would lead to IV use, which it tragically did.
For Demi Lovato, 21, who is a former addict and had a long stint of rehab herself, all of this is a very personal story.
In a passionate message to her Twitter followers, after the news of the actor’s death became public, a concerned Demi said:
I wish more people would lose the stigma and treat addiction as the deadly and serious DISEASE that it is…. http://t.co/orMPrU4jU1
— demetria lovato (@ddlovato) February 2, 2014
Demi Lovato continues on her impassioned plea:
“People need to have compassion for it. Being a former addict, looking at it as I had a choice, because at some point in my disease I didn’t, I physically and emotionally couldn’t live without it, that was my medicine to my pain.”
Demi Lovato has been very open and candid about her addiction and emotional problems, which almost destroyed her career. Now, clean, after a family intervention forced her to seek help and enter rehab, the pop singer seems to be truly happy, but at her young age, she has lived more than most.
In her message she also says:
“Drugs are not something to glamorize in pop music or film to portray as harmless recreational fun.”
“It’s time people start really taking action on changing what we’re actually singing/rapping about these days because you never know if you could be glamorizing a certain drug to a first time user or alcoholic…”
“This stuff is not something to mess with. Why risk it? Addiction IS a disease. Please spread the word so we can take the taboo out of discussing this illness and raising awareness to people of all ages. RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman.. An INCREDIBLE artist who lost his life to this horrible disease… May you rest peacefully and in complete serenity now that your pain is gone. God Bless.”
The death of Philip Seymour Hoffman clearly hit Demi Lovato very hard and she recognizes many of her own experiences in the path that resulted in the talented actor’s death.