Demi Lovato opens up about her own drug battle after Hoffman's death

Singer Demi Lovato has opened up about her own battles with drug addiction following the death of Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman at the weekend (02Feb14).

Like many fans, Lovato was shocked by The Ides of March star's suspected overdose death, and as details of Hoffman's drug problems continue to make headlines, she has shed a little light on her own battles that prompted her to seek rehab help in 2010.

The Skyscraper singer tells news show Extra, "People don't take it as seriously as it really is, it's a mental illness and it's a disease... There's no pill that's gonna change it.

"People need to have compassion for it... Being a former addict, looking at it as I had a choice, because at some point in my disease I didn't, I physically and emotionally couldn't live without it. That was my medicine to my pain."