Demi Lovato says the recent DMX overdose left her “ survivor guilt ” after she nearly died of drugs in 2018.
50-year-old rapper “X Gon ‘Give It to Ya” is receiving life support and has been in a “vegetative state” after a drug overdose and heart attack since last week.
“Every time I see or die an OD that is out in the open, I immediately think, ‘That could have been you if you hadn’t put all this work into the last few years of your life,’” Lovato said in an interview . with “TMZ Live” airing on Wednesdays.
Sometimes I have felt the guilt of the survivor. You wonder: why am I still here, why are others not? It is a challenge. I have to realize that every day is a day that no one else gets. “
The “Dancing With the Devil” singer – who overdosed in July 2018 after smoking heroin and also ingested fentanyl-laced oxycodone – now counts her blessings “every day I’m here on this earth.”
“It makes me want to live the best I can have, knowing that others haven’t gotten the chance,” she says.
Hundreds of people showed up on Tuesday to hold a prayer vigil for DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, at White Plains Hospital. Some of his 15 children were among the visitors allowed into the ICU to say their “last goodbyes” to him.
“We ask that you keep Earl / DMX and us in your thoughts, wishes and prayers and respect our privacy as we face these challenges,” the family said in a statement to People.
In 2016, DMX received a near-fatal overdose in the parking lot of a Westchester hotel, where medics gave him Narcan to save his life.