In a new interview with LA Confidential magazine, Mary J. Blige reveals how Whitney Houston’s death caused her to stop even drinking socially to finally do away with the substance abuse she suffered in the previous decade. The Queen of Hip Hop soul also discussed why she never wanted to go to rehab, plus shares her thoughts on accepting same sex marriage.
KS: You’ve spoken openly about your addictions as well.
MJB: What I did was I chose to learn how to drink socially and it didn’t work. The test comes when you have to decide whether you’re drinking to be social or drinking to cover up something again. To cover up depression. To cover up guilt. Shame. Abandonment. All of that, man. Once I realized, “There you go again,” I had to stop. Whitney Houston’s death really affected me. Her death is another reason I stopped. I really do think I’m done. I looked at how that woman could not perform anymore.
KS: Were you afraid to do a more structured program of recovery because of your fame?
MJB: I don’t know why. But I didn’t want to go to rehab. I believe that anything man himself can do for me, God can do for me in a greater way. I decided to pray and to seek God on my own. I just stayed in The Word. And it worked.
KS: Do you consider yourself a born-again Christian?
MJB: Yes.
KS: And yet you’ve come out in favor of same-sex marriage. A lot of people would say that is not compatible with your born-again Christianity.
MJB: I would say this to those people: I’m not God. God said not to judge anyone lest you be judged. That’s it. Who am I to point my finger? You’ve got to walk in love. To say you do not want people to be happy is so mean, so not me.
Mary also discussed the idea of mentoring younger artists:
If they ask me for help, I’ll be there to give. But I’m not going to be out there trying to reach out. I mean, some people I’ll reach out to. I’ll reach out to Rihanna because I know Rihanna. If I feel like she’s in trouble, I’ll be there reaching out. I don’t want to not reach out to her like we didn’t get to Whitney in time.
Somewhere Keyshia Cole is not amused.
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