![\"Mary](\"https:\/\/www.orchidrecoverycenter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/mjb.jpg\")
(This content is being used for illustrative purposes only; any person depicted in the content is a model)<\/p><\/div>\n
Mary J. Blige, the artist dubbed <\/a>\u201cQueen of Hip Hop Soul\u201d recently opened up<\/a> about battling depression and addiction. \u00a0Blige has always been pretty open about her struggles. Whether it was her\u00a0addiction<\/a>, mental illness or childhood abuse<\/a>, the singer\u00a0has not been shy about the obstacles she\u2019s overcome to get to where she is.<\/p>\n In an interview with MAKERS<\/em><\/a>, Blige says her singing talent is what helped her escape her difficult childhood in the Bronx.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I had wings,\u201d<\/strong> she said, \u201cLike I could fly and get away from any situation like I was alive.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Success finally came with her platinum debut album, What\u2019s the 411<\/em>. The album recently celebrated its 25th<\/sup> anniversary and Blige says she\u2019s grateful she has made it this far. \u00a0The journey has not been easy, Blige explains.<\/p>\n Despite her success, Blige said she had to deal with jealousy from her community and learn to navigate fame. \u00a0To escape, she often turned to drugs and alcohol<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople want to buy your records, they want to see you,\u201d<\/strong> she says. \u201cBut, people in the neighborhood want to kill you for it. So you plucked this girl from the hood and throw her in all of this stuff and so, she\u2019s going to survive the only way she knows how. I was resorting to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Blige endured depression and addiction, however, she admits these challenges were not necessarily the result of fame, and instead were her ways of coping with the abuse she endured as a child.<\/p>\n \u201cIt only happened once, but after that, there was so much else in my childhood that happened. So many dark moments\u2014which all added up and that\u2019s what sprung on the drug addiction, trying to numb it all with the drugs.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n When Blige won her first Grammy in 1995, she says she was “drinking like a crazy person”<\/strong> and “sniffing cocaine.”<\/strong><\/p>\n In the second album, My Life<\/em>, we saw Blige pleading for help through her music. Initially, she did not think anyone would pay any attention to it.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople from the outside looking in would think that everything was great, but I was in hell. I was spiraling down.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n
She told Los Angeles Confidential,<\/h4>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think anybody would pay attention to my call for help, but my fanbase did. They all came out and bought my record\u2026 so I took all this depression and all this oppression I was dealing with and just put it in my music. I made the choice, I chose life.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n