Fergie opens up about drug-fueled past

Pop star FERGIE has opened up about her drug-fueled past, revealing she forced herself to get clean after growing so paranoid she was convinced the police were tailing her.

The Black Eyed Peas frontwoman joined pop vocal group Wild Orchid when she was just a teen, and life in the spotlight led to stresses and pressure that became too much for the singer, especially when she was given the chance to go solo - and she turned to drugs.

She tells TV host Oprah Winfrey, "What I should have done was said, 'Girls, it's really time for me to go (out) on my own. I need to fulfil this dream of mine to have a solo album.' And I didn't know how to do that, I didn't know how to deal with that confrontation... So I started going out and taking Ecstasy and from Ecstasy I went to crystal meth.

"At first, with any drug, it's great in the beginning, then slowly your life starts to spiral down. (I was) 90 pounds (41 kilograms) at one point."

And Fergie admits she eventually hit rock bottom and prayed to God for help in overcoming her demons.

She continues, "My brain had been playing a lot of tricks on me. You're kind of living in this alternate reality.

"I started getting really paranoid. So I went one day into this church and I thought that the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams were outside the church... So I had a conversation with God... and I said, 'Alright, if I go out there and the FBI and the SWAT team's not out there, then it's the drugs and I'm stopping.'

"I went outside of the church... and there was no SWAT team, there was no FBI, just me and God. And I kept my promise. That day. That was it."