Who Is Dani Vitale? Demi Lovato's Friend Denies Involvement in Her Overdose

Anyone familiar with actress and musician Demi Lovato knows that she's gone through some rough patches in her life. Thankfully, through Demi's struggles, she's made some reliable friends keep her going through it all. In her recent documentary Dancing With the Devil, Demi discusses the night of her overdose in 2018, including the presence of her friend Dani Vitale. 

Dani Vitale is Demi's former creative director and had been a backup dancer of hers for years. US Weekly details Dani's history with dance, which includes extensive ballet training at the Cleveland City of Dance and studies in New York and Los Angeles at Broadway Dance Center, at Oberlin College, and at Performing Arts Center in California. She has performed on the Grammys, Dancing With the Stars, and in several musical tours. 

A shortlist of musicians Dani has worked with includes Demi, Halsey, Kelsea Ballerini, Kelly Clarkson, Hailee Steinfeld, and now Madison Beer. Over the past few years, she's also become a creative director and producer. 

Dani has worked on enormous collaborative projects such as the 2019 Country Music Awards and the 2020 Billboard Music Awards. She is also particularly close with her former Camp Rock co-stars after being a backup dancer in the film! 

While Dani and Demi looked friendly as can be on her "Tell Me You Love Me" tour, during the aftermath of Demi's July 2018 overdose, fans started to spark rumors that Dani was also Demi's drug dealer and therefore partly responsible for her overdose. The documentary includes that Dani faced constant death threats, hurtful messages, and other malicious content directed towards her as a result. 

In Dancing With the Devil, Dani explains, "I lost all my teaching jobs. No one [wants] to bring their kid to an apparent ‘heroin-teacher dealer.'" She also mentions she lost all the clients she had been working with and said, "I had to rethink my whole future all because of someone else’s decision, and that was terrifying."

Demi admits that she waited too long to speak in defense of Dani. She said, "Unfortunately, it took me too long to realize how my choices affected the people I really care about who had stuck by me. I’m just glad that she got the chance to talk to me and clear her name because she wasn’t involved in all of that."

Regarding the night of the overdose in question, Entertainment Weekly summarizes that the chain of events happened as follows: Demi and Dani had been out celebrating her birthday when Demi invited everyone back to her home. Demi offered everyone sparkling waters and the opportunity to sleep over if they wanted, but after a "weird" feeling like they needed to stay, Dani and a friend declined. 

"The reality was I had called my dealer over," Demi admits. 

As a result of the ire Dani faced after Demi's overdose and the coronavirus pandemic, she hasn't been spotted with Demi lately, but fans should be glad to know that the pair have been in contact and have maintained their friendship. 

Dancing With the Devil is available to watch exclusively through YouTube.