Mary J. Blige's Latest Album Reflects On Dark Past And How She Overcame It

Mary J. Blige calls her latest album, My Life II…The Journey Continues (Act I), a sequel to her smash hit 1994 album My Life.

In her second entry of a long and very successful music career, Mary sings about a dark period in her younger life. In a recent interview, the R&B singer opened up about the unfortunate details of her childhood that inspired her music, saying:

"I was abused as a child and it caused me to go into substance abuse and I had no love for myself because of the guilt and shame that came with that, so maybe I just started into hating myself and not loving myself and it snowballed into this thing that was bigger than me."

Fortunately, those days are long behind her. The singer has been able to grow and overcome her demons by filling her life with positivity, explaining:

"I mean you know, to make a negative situation and turn it positive, it's what I did, it's what so many young women or men are going through right now, it's hard but what can you do, other than take the situation and turn it positive? But you can't do it alone, it's spiritual. And that's what I did, I chose life over death, in spite of the hard times I was having."

She continued to explain that she felt a sequel to the album was appropriate to not only remind her fans of how far she has come, but herself as well, saying:

"I think it's important to do a sequel to the My Life album, because we need to be reminded how far we've come because we were in such a dark, suicidal place where we really needed help and we have grown tremendously, understanding that we have to love ourselves."

Although we feel awful that Mz. Blige had to go through what she went through in her youth, we have a feeling her words and wisdom will inspire an entire new generation of kids who may be in the same situation now.

Keep an eye out for Mary J. Blige's latest record being released on November 21st!

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: abuse, album, interview, kids, mary j. blige, mental health, my life, my life ii, november, record, sad, sequel, youth