Demi Lovato's Mom Breaks Her Silence About Daughter's Overdose
(CNN) -- Demi Lovato's mother, Dianna De La Garza, says she didn't even know at first that her daughter had suffered an overdose.
"All of these texts started coming in," De La Garza said in an interview Tuesday with Newsmax. "The first lines of these texts were saying, 'I just heard the news, I'm so sorry, I'm praying for your family, I'm praying for Demi.' I was in shock, like, what is going on?"
She said her heart dropped, and before she had a chance to check out reports, Lovato's assistant called with the news.
The singer and actress had been rushed to the hospital in late July after an apparent overdose. Friends, fans and family members worried as Lovato remained hospitalized with complications.
Lovato broke her silence on social media days later.
"I now need time to heal and focus on my sobriety and road to recovery," Lovato wrote. "I will keep fighting."
De La Garza is now talking about those dark days -- with the support of her famous daughter, now 26 -- as she promotes her book, "Falling with Wings," which was published in March.
"It was something I never, ever expected to hear as a parent, about any of my kids," she said.
De La Garza said she and her other daughters, Dallas and Madison, went to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to see Lovato.
"She was in bad shape, but I said to her, 'Demi, I'm here, I love you,'" De La Garza recalled. "And at that point, she said back to me, 'I love you, too.' From that point on, I never allowed myself to ever think that things weren't going to be OK."
What followed were dark days, with Lovato in critical condition, her mother said.
De La Garza said she credits Lovato's recovery in part to the many fans who rallied around her.
"I just feel like the reason she is alive today is because of the millions and millions of prayers that went up that day when everybody found out what was happening," she said. "I don't think she would be here if it wasn't for those prayers and the good doctors at Cedars-Sinai."
The "Sober" singer's mother is now working to raise awareness about the opioid crisis.
She said Lovato, who was released from the hospital in early August, is doing well.
"She's happy, she's healthy, she's working on her sobriety, and she's getting the help she needs," De La Garza said, "and that, in itself, encourages me about her future and the future of our family."
The-CNN-Wire
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