Demi Lovato has been let down like Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston following drug overdose

JUST five weeks ago, self-proclaimed drug addict Demi Lovato released her latest pop single – a heart-achingly poignant cry for help about falling off the wagon, called Sober.

“I’m dying inside,” she admitted in song, before apologising to her momma, daddy, fans and even her future love for the mistakes she’d made for starting to drink and, we now know, take drugs again after six years clean.

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While later in the song she promises to get help, she also sings: “I got no excuses for all of these goodbyes, call me when it’s over.”

The message could not have been clearer: This was a ­desperate woman not coping with her addiction and needing to be saved.

So what do the record ­companies, tour promoters, agents, managers and every other professional making money off her decide to do?

Pull her off tour and get her into rehab or treatment to get her through her worrying plunge back into drug addiction, you would assume.

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Hardly. She continued promoting the track, including one stage performance where she couldn’t even remember the lyrics to the raw and emotional song.

It’s a story we have seen far, far too many times in the entertainment industry.

Former Disney child star Demi’s scenario feels eerily ­similar to the way supremely ­talented addicts Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston were milked for profits by various commercial concerns and ­individuals, rather than being given the tough love required to try to get them clean.

As ever, there are the usual excuses I’ve heard all too often in an industry ­ravaged by drug and alcohol ­addictions, and serious mental health issues. I don’t blame the pop star’s friends and families here.

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Of course, you cannot force a ­relative – especially one so independent and rich beyond belief – to get help. But the various ­professionals around such a vulnerable star should put their charge’s health first.

It might have to be tough love, too.

If every telly booker, record company exec, agent, manager, PR, commercial director and ­anyone else simply refused to work with clearly vulnerable stars, until they were given a clean bill of health after an appropriate stint in rehab, then maybe there’d be a chance to stop things getting worse.

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Demi’s case proves that addiction issues don’t just go away, even after many years. For anyone.

But those in the entertainment industry working with child stars should take ­particular care and responsibility to look after their young charges.

The pressures of fame as a kid or teenager make surviving addictions even tougher than usual.

You only have to look at everyone from Judy Garland to Lindsay Lohan to see how most play out.

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I know that Demi’s honesty about her addiction has touched so many people, who suffer on a daily basis from exactly the same thing.

Now I truly hope she is now given the time and space required to get back on track, without the ­pressure of ­having to ­perform to millions.

Yes, some businesses might lose some profits in the short-term – but it might just save a life.