Demi Lovato says vision damage after overdose a reminder 'to stay on the right path'

Demi Lovato is sober and in "a more positive mind space" nearly five years after an overdose left them with vision and hearing impairments.

They recently told Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show "Andy Cohen Live" that these disabilities remind them of the reason they are sober.

"That overdose caused me, you know, it actually caused a disability. I have vision impairment and hearing impairment to this day," they said. "It's a daily constant reminder. You know, anytime I look at something, like, I have blind spots in my vision when I look at your face. And so it's a constant reminder to stay on the right path because I never want that to happen again."

Lovato previously revealed in their 2021 docuseries “Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil” that they experienced several strokes, a heart attack, pneumonia and multiple organ failure as a result of their near-fatal overdose in July 2018. This left them "legally blind when I woke up," but they regained some eyesight after.

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"Speaking of gratitude, it could have been so much worse," Lovato told Cohen. "So it's a reminder that I came close to it being so much worse, and I'm grateful that it is only what it is."

Demi Lovato says overdose was 'a life lesson'

In the time since their overdose, Lovato has been able to find gratitude for what they've previously called "the darkest point in my life."

"I wouldn't change my path because I don't have any regrets," Lovato told Cohen. "The closest thing that I get to a regret is when I overdosed. I wish somebody had told me, one, that I was beautiful, because I didn't believe it. And two, I wish that someone would've told me that if you just sit with the pain, it passes, that you don't have to use over it."

Though they shared in the docuseries that they were drinking and using marijuana in moderation, Lovato revealed in December 2021 that “sober sober is the only way to be.”

"Luckily, in the mind state that I'm in now, you know, being sober, having a clear head, I just think in a more positive mind space and I'm not focusing on the shame at all because I know I have a lot of sympathy for where I was at that time and the choices that I made, and I understand why it happened and what happened," they told Cohen.

"But there's no shame that comes with it because it was just a life lesson that I had to learn."

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On July 14, Lovato rereleased a rock version of their 2017 single "Sorry Not Sorry," featuring Slash. The track will feature on their upcoming collection of reworked hits from throughout their career. The album, "Revamped," will release on Sept. 15.

"I got sober, and I was reevaluating everything in my life, including my music, and I was like, 'What makes me happy?'" Lovato told Cohen. "Like, that's the most important question. And I was like, 'What makes me happy is listening to rock music and performing rock music."

In a July 14 Instagram post, Lovato wrote, "Breathing new life into the songs that played such a huge role in my career has allowed me to feel so much closer to my music than ever before."

Lovato told Cohen that they won't necessarily stay away from pop music forever.

"I never say never because you never know what'll happen, but I've just been really influenced by rock music, and it's what I have fun performing live. Like, I don't have fun dancing on stage anymore."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Demi Lovato is sober, sees 2018 overdose as a 'life lesson'