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Demi Lovato on Past Drug Use: I Couldn’t Go More Than an Hour Without Cocaine, Would Smuggle It on Airplanes

Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato admits to smuggle cocaine onto airplanes in a new interview with Access Hollywood.

In her recent hit “Heart Attack,” Demi Lovato croons, “If I ever did that, I think I’d have a heart attack,” but based on her latest confessions about her intense drug and alcohol abuse, it seems The X Factor judge can withstand more than the average person. 

Lovato, 21, gave Access Hollywood a very candid interview on Dec. 10 in which she revealed some shocking details about her troubled past. 

Related: PHOTOS: Demi Lovato and other stars who've battled mental health issues

“I couldn’t go 30 minutes to an hour without cocaine, and I would bring it on airplanes,” the former Disney star admitted on the show. “I would smuggle it basically and just wait until everyone in first class would go to sleep, and I would do it right there. I’d sneak to the bathroom, and I’d do it. That’s how difficult it got and that was even with somebody [with me]. I had a sober companion, somebody who was watching me 24/7 and living with me [and] I was able to hide it from them as well.”

Lovato checked into rehab in October 2010, withdrawing from the Jonas Brothers Live in Concert tour and leaving her Disney Channel show, Sonny With a Chance. At the time she cited “physical and emotional issues,” but in this new interview, Lovato reveals the exact moment when she realized she’d hit rock bottom.

“I was going to the airport, and I had a Sprite bottle just filled with vodka,” she continued. “It was just nine in the morning, and I was throwing up in the car and this was just to get on a plane to go back to LA to the sober living house that I was staying at. When I hit that moment I was like, ‘It’s no longer fun when you’re doing it alone.'”

Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato posed at the Nickelodeon’s 22nd Annual Kid’s Choice Awards on March 28, 2009. Almost a year later, she checked into rehab.

Related: PHOTOS: Demi Lovato through the years

The “Neon Lights” singer didn’t just struggle with alcohol and drug abuse. She’s also been very upfront about her eating disorder, and continued to talk about her difficult journey with Access Hollywood.

“It was always there, but then I just acted on it at around 8 or 9 years old,” she said. “I started overeating, compulsively overeating. I would bake cookies and then eat the whole pan. I went from doing that to being unhappy with my body. I went to just completely starving myself and that turned into throwing up and starving myself and it was just this crazy battle going on inside of me. It got really difficult [and] I would throw up, and it would just be blood and it was something that I realized if I don’t stop this, I am going to die.”

Lovato, who has also admitted to cutting herself at age 11 and struggling with bipolar disorder, is known her honesty and is currently penning a tell-all memoir. Since leaving the treatment facility in January 2011, Lovato has dedicated her career to being a true role model to her younger fans.  

Related: PHOTOS: Disney stars through the years

In the Nov. 15 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Lovato admitted that she’s battled herself about how honest she should be.

“I’m battling with internal thoughts on how honest I should be,” the Glee guest star told EW. “Yes, I’ve been very honest, but if people really knew how dark and deep my struggles got — not just with my eating disorder but with drugs and alcohol — they’d be really shocked. But I’ll most likely end up saying everything. Maybe it’ll help other people in the industry who are headed down the wrong path.”

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