Demi Lovato says she has ‘survivor’s guilt’ over Mac Miller’s death

‘Mac Miller died, and it just put everything into perspective for me of, “That could have been you,”’ Lovato said

Demi Lovato said she experienced survivor’s guilt after the death of Mac Miller, which occurred weeks after Lovato survived a drug overdose of her own.

The 29-year-old singer – who recently updated her pronouns to she/her – made the comments in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music.

“I had a lot of survivor’s guilt after my overdose because… right after that, Mac Miller died, and it just put everything into perspective for me of, ‘That could have been you, that almost was you, and how are you going to live your life now?’ And it affected me a lot,” the singer said.

In 2018, Miller was found dead by his assistant at his San Fernando Valley home in Los Angeles on 7 September.

A post-mortem examination found that Miller died from an accidental overdose, via a combination of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol.

Lovato overdosed on heroin, which she now believes was laced with fentanyl, in 2018, just weeks before Miller’s death. She had previousbly been sober for six years.

US singer Demi Lovato (AFP via Getty Images)

Lovato suffered three strokes, vision loss, organ failure, and a heart attack, but was able to recover.

One of the tracks on her upcoming album Holy Fvckentitled “Dead Friends” delves into Lovato’s emotions watching her friends pass from overdoses.

“I’ve made friends of all ages. I’ve lost friends that were around my age, and those hurt so deeply because we’ve been in the trenches together,” Lovato told Lowe.

The “Sorry Not Sorry” singer has spoken about suffering from survivor’s guilt in the past.

“Any time that I see somebody OD or even pass away that’s in the public eye, I immediately think, ‘That could have been you, had you not been putting all this work into the last couple years of your life,’” she said in 2021 after the rapper DMX died following an overdose.

Holy Fvck is scheduled to release on 19 August.