JoJo Opens Up About Drinking, Battle With Depression

No apologies. JoJo was candid in a new interview about dealing with depression and drinking during her lengthy battle with her former record label.

The “F–k Apologies” singer, 25, who released her first album at age 13, said she thought her career was over due to her long hiatus. “I thought, how can I come back from this, you know, too much time has passed. I’ve had many low points, honestly,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I was depressed, I was drinking a lot. I just wanted to feel good and get out of my mind, and that was obviously trying to fill a hole that I had.”

The “Leave (Get Out)” songstress released her sophomore album in 2006, then spent 10 years trying to release her third record. However, the now defunct label, Blackground Records, wouldn’t release the album no matter what she did, according to the artist. “I had to sue twice. I spent all my time and money to get to the other side of it,” she said.

JoJo also claimed that she was pressured by label executives to lose weight. “I was 18 and was told if I didn’t look a certain way, they wouldn’t put out my music,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Oh, if this is gonna make my music come out, then OK.”

She explained that she was using weight-loss injections meant for pregnant women. “I was on shots. I was injecting myself with this thing from this dietician that makes it so you’re not hungry,” she said. “I wasn’t even done growing, necessarily, but because I wanted my career to move forward and I was so scared, I did it. And it just made me feel like, ‘Am I not good enough of a singer? Am I not special enough?’”

Now that she’s finally signed with Atlantic Records and has just released her new album, Mad Love, she’s in a much better place. “[I’m not sorry] for loving who I love, for doing what I need to do, for being hungry, for chasing after my dreams,” she said. “I’m really not sorry for being myself.”

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