Mary J.Blige

“I used to think I was ugly...I thought I looked like a camel. A person who doesn’t love themselves, they will see anything that pops up on their face. I’ve seen squirrels, I’ve seen a bird, I’ve seen all kinds of animals on my face. But that is the result of self-hate. I’ve learned to say: ‘You know what? I am a beautiful black woman’. I beat alcohol dependence and drug addiction. A lot happened to me during my childhood. As I got older, these things resurfaced. In order to deal with it and in order to cope without it hurting so bad, I drowned it in alcohol and drugs. It lessened the pain for that moment. I started at 16 years old. By the time I got into the music business, it was bigger than me. I overcame an abusive relationship by learning to love myself. When you realize people are going to treat you the way you treat yourself, you begin to treat yourself better. I understood what Rihanna went through with Chris Brown. I don’t want to comment on it. But I know exactly what they were both going through.” --- The Singer Mary J. Blige recently revealed to the Austrian Newspaper, The Family Affair, her ups and downs and how she was able to turn it all around.