Why Demi Lovato's Bestie Dani Got Blamed For Overdose & How Bad It Got
The YouTube docuseries Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil is centered on Demi Lovato’s near-fatal 2018 overdose and aftermath, and we've uncovered the reasons why Demi's fans blamed her choreographer Dani Vitale for the OD. This overdose had serious consequences for Demi, her family (including her mom Dianna De La Garza), and her friends. In Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, there are lots of tears as people share what they remember before, during, and after Demi’s hospital stay. Her fans struggled to come to terms with the fact that their favorite singer, who was open about her struggles with addiction and mental health, had relapsed. People looked for someone to blame, and many of Demi’s fans chose to blame Demi’s friend and choreographer, Dani Vitale.
Demi Lovato had been filming a documentary about her “Tell Me You Love Me” world tour. When she overdosed, that documentary was put on hold, and some of that footage was seen for the first time in Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil. Vitale recalls the tour, saying, “The U.S. tour was absolutely a dream come true, obviously, professionally, but it emotionally was miserable.” While performing looks easy, touring artists work ridiculously long hours, have to sleep on buses or planes, and change time zones with no time to adjust. It's easy for things like healthy eating and self-care to fall by the wayside, leaving a singer exhausted and prone to mental health issues. Demi wasn’t the only one to suffer the consequences of her overdose, as Dani was targeted by her fans.
The night that Demi overdosed, she had gone to Vitale’s birthday party. Vitale was not just Demi’s professional choreographer but also a close friend. Vitale’s party was not a wild night. It was a quiet and small gathering of friends, and Demi’s security team was also in attendance. There was drinking, but no drug use. Afterwards, a few people went back to Demi’s house. While Demi invited them to stay late into the night, Vitale had other responsibilities. When Dani said goodbye, Demi told her she was going to go to bed. It was a lie, as Demi called her drug dealer instead. Various family members featured in the documentary mentioned how good Demi was at hiding things. Demi agreed, saying, “That was my fault. That was me manipulating the people around me and making sure they never found out.”
Demi’s fans jumped to the incorrect conclusion that Vitale had been there when Demi was doing drugs and had provided her with the drugs. Demi says her fans are “passionate” but also “out of line sometimes.” The online outcry was way out of line. Vitale said she was getting between four and five thousand death threats every single day, and that the threats continued for more than a year. She also lost all her work, as people believed she was a heroin dealer or ducking the controversy that swirled around her. Because of the choice that Demi made, Vitale’s life was ruined. She was left trying to rebuild while fans, who had been encouraged by Demi’s messages about overcoming mental health problems, turned around and ordered Vitale to kill herself. See part of the documentary below:
Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil is an illuminating look at the real and often miserable world of celebrity. Demi expressed that she wanted to use this documentary to debunk the rumors surrounding her overdose, and to allow Vitale to exonerate herself. The docuseries showed how overzealous fans had punished an innocent person. Let’s hope that Demi Lovato (who once dated Mike Johnson from The Bachelorette) and her fans can move forward from this incident (and its aftereffects) as strong and better people.