Skip to Search Skip to Live Player Skip to Content Skip to Footer
Primary Menu

Entertainment News

Demi Lovato Has ‘Survivors Guilt’ After Learning Of DMX’s Condition

Laila Abuelhawa April 7th
Demi Lovato attends the OBB Premiere Event for YouTube Originals Docuseries "Demi Lovato: Dancing With The Devil" at The Beverly Hilton on March 22, 2021 in Beverly Hills, California.

On TMZ Live, Demi Lovato shared her reaction to DMX’s current state: the rapper is on life support and his prognosis looks dire. She sees the parallels in her own life and said she suffers from survivor’s guilt, knowing that that could have been her.

“Anytime that I see somebody O.D. or even pass away that’s in the public eye, I immediately think, you know, ‘That could have been you, had you not been putting all this work into the last couple years of your life.’ I feel like, there’s times where I’ve even talked about feeling survivor’s guilt because you do ask yourself: ‘Why am I still here? Why are others not?’ It’s a challenging thing to get over, but ultimately I had to realize that every day is a day that someone else doesn’t get. Every day that I’m here on this Earth is a day that I need to be counting my blessings for and just being appreciative and grateful for it. And also, it makes me want to live the best life I can possibly live, knowing that others didn’t get the same chance that I did.”

Lovato was asked to talk about how she’s handling recovery with being “California Sober” (smoking weed and drinking alcohol in moderation) and how she is able to control it. She explains abstinence doesn’t work for everyone, noting that total sobriety has “not worked for every single person who’s tried it.” She continues on to say, “When I’m feeling like the floor is falling out from underneath me, I was like, ‘It’s just a shame I don’t have something that I could lean in towards in those moments. I don’t understand why I can’t just pick up a joint.'” When she talked about this with her team, she said she found a middle path or gray area (or a “green area”), with food and substances.

Lovato’s Dancing With the Devil: The Art Of Starting Over album is autobiographical, and shares a title with her YouTube documentary series. “If you listen to it track by track, if you follow the track listing, it’s kind of actually like the non-official soundtrack to the documentary. Because it really does follow my life over the past couple of years. When we went through the track listing and kind of mapped out how it kind of coincided with my life’s story, it made sense to add the more emotional stuff in the beginning and then transition into The Art of Starting Over,” Lovato said. One thing that was not affected by her 2018 OD was her voice, which is better than ever.

GALLERY: 17 Facts About DMX You Might Not Know

  • Fact #17

    As a child, Simmons suffered greatly from bronchial asthma, being taken to the emergency room almost nightly due to him waking up unable to breathe.

  • Fact #16

    He was brought up in the Jehovah's Witness faith. At some point in his childhood, Simmons was hit by a drunk driver while crossing the street and suffered minor injuries. He claims his family could have received as much as $10,000 in a legal settlement, but his mother refused to open a case as she claimed it went against her faith.

  • Fact #15

    Simmons went through a disjointed childhood that included being beaten by his mother and her various boyfriends so badly that he lost teeth, and sustained numerous bruises and cuts on his face.

  • Fact #14

    Simmons chose the name "DMX", which came from an instrument he had used at the boys' home, the Oberheim DMX drum machine; it later was also interpreted as "Dark Man X."

  • Fact #13

    DMX got his start in the music industry in 1984, when he would beatbox for a local rapper named Ready Ron. After serving time in prison, he began writing his own lyrics and performed at the local rec center for younger children. After going to prison again in 1988, he began taking rapping more seriously, dedicating almost all of his free time to writing lyrics, leading him to meeting and rapping with K-Solo while incarcerated.

  • Fact #12

    DMX was first sent to prison in 1986 after stealing a dog from a junkyard. He was sentenced to two years in the juvenile unit of Woodfield Prison in Valhalla, New York. However, just weeks after starting his sentence, he and his cellmate successfully escaped the prison and DMX returned home to New York until his mother forced him to turn himself in and finish his sentence.

  • Fact #11

    Simmons was sent to prison again in 1988 for carjacking, and was later moved to a higher security prison after attempting to extort a fellow inmate for drugs. He was released that summer.

  • Fact #10

    DMX made a guest appearance alongside Jay Z, Ja Rule, and Mic Geronimo on the classic underground track "Time To Build" on Mic Geronimo's debut album in 1995. He also appeared on LL Cool J's single "4, 3, 2, 1" in 1997.

  • Fact #9

    DMX also made a cameo appearance in the Sum 41 music video for "Makes No Difference."

  • Fact #8

    In February 1998, DMX released his debut major-label single, "Get at Me Dog", on Def Jam. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA. His first major-label album, 1998's It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, which included the single "Ruff Ryders Anthem." The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S and sold over five million copies.

  • Fact #7

    His fifth album, Grand Champ placed DMX as the only musical artist in history to release five consecutive albums (his entire album catalog at the time) that debuted at number one. Singles include "Where Tha Hood At" and "Get it on the Floor". After its release, he informed the public that he planned to retire, and that 2003's Grand Champ would be his final album.

  • Fact #6

    In 2009, DMX claimed he would pursue preaching in Jersey City, New Jersey while continuing to produce music. He completed a Gospel album prior to his incarceration. According to MTV, he had semi-retired to study the Bible more in an effort to give messages behind the pulpit.

  • Fact #5

    DMX has fifteen children. He had multiple extramarital affairs during his marriage to Tashera Simmons, whom he was married to for eleven years.

  • Fact #4

    On July 30, 2013, DMX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing his child support obligations as his priority claim. The filing was challenged by the Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog trustee program, and was later dismissed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on November 11, 2013.

  • Fact #3

    DMX has spoken openly about his addiction to crack cocaine, which began when he was 14 years old after he smoked a marijuana cigarette laced with the drug.

  • Fact #2

    On February 10, 2016, DMX was found unresponsive in a Ramada Inn parking lot in Yonkers. He was resuscitated by first responders and given Narcan before being rushed to the hospital.

  • Fact #1

    On September 20, 2019, it was officially announced that DMX had signed a new record deal with Def Jam, reuniting with the label for the first time since his 2003 album Grand Champ.

Tags
,