The country singer struggled with substance abuse.
Days after Demi Lovato was hospitalized following what sources tell ET was a drug overdose, Keith Urban has some advice for the 25-year-old pop star.
The 50-year-old country singer, who has been candid in the past about his struggles with addiction, was asked about the Lovato on the Australian morning show Today Extra.
“I don’t know anything about her personally,” Urban admitted, but still noted that he’d tell Lovato, “Just [to have] good people around her and a willingness to want to live a different way if that’s what she wants to do. It’s all up to her.”
Urban, like Lovato, has been very open about his battle with substance abuse. In a 2016 profile for Rolling Stone, he opened up about his addiction, admitting that he once thought about taking his own life.
“I didn’t seem able to stop. There was no stopping this time. I’d go to sleep, wake up a couple hours later, go at it again, drinking to take the edge off. I remember thinking, ‘I’m probably not going to make it until tomorrow,’” he recalled, adding, “And then I thought, ‘F**k it, I don’t care. It’ll be a relief to not have to. I’ll take an Ambien and at some point I’ll pass.”
Urban also touched on how he reflected on that time after getting sober. “Early on in my sobriety, there was a period when I wished I hadn’t succumbed to drugs and everything the way I did," he shared. "It sucked up so much creative time, when I should have been in the studio working. But I don’t know what came from that time, other than that I’m where I am. Because of, or in spite of, nobody knows and never will.”
Lovato was hospitalized last Tuesday after suffering from a drug overdose, multiple sources tell ET.
A rep for Demi previously released a statement on her condition, saying, “Demi is awake and with her family, who want to express thanks to everyone for the love, prayers and support. Some of the information being reported is incorrect and they respectfully ask for privacy and not speculation as her health and recovery is the most important thing right now."
One of Urban’s fellow country stars, Brad Paisley, who recently recorded a duet with Lovato, took to Twitter shortly after the news broke to send his well wishes.
“My friend @ddlovato is one of the kindest, most talented people I’ve ever met. Praying for her right now, addiction is a terrifying disease. There is no one more honest or brave than this woman,” he tweeted at the time.
For more on Lovato’s condition, watch the clip below:
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