Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie says the tabloid scandal surrounding her husband Josh Duhamel’s alleged affair with a stripper last year, taught her the meaning of trust and self-confidence.
“For me, I’m not a jealous person,” she says. “That’s just not my thing. You have to have trust in your relationship.
“Just knowing that our relationship was stronger than that. We live in a voyeuristic world, and it’s part of our business. But I like to [focus on] all the perks that I get in this business.”
The affair rumors were trying, but Fergie says her harrowing addiction to crystal meth and struggles with alcoholism are battles she fights every day, according to a new interview in Glamour magazine.
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Glamour magazine just named the singer one of the Women of the Year in the December issue.
Fergie, 35, whose real name is Stacy Ann Ferguson, says staying sober and drug-free is still a battle, and credits luck, hypnotherapy, exercise and willpower for being alive today.
“I’m not claiming to be sober,” says Fergie. “I think that that would be misleading. I drink alcohol. My father has a vineyard, and [the wine is] really delicious.
“Anyway, for most addicts, they would advise never to have any sort of substance. I just have my own journey, and I am very blessed to this day to be alive.”
Fergie, who battled crystal meth addiction for almost a decade, said in 2006 that kicking the narcotic was one of the hardest things she had ever gone.
“It was the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up with,” she told Time.
“It’s the drug that’s addicting. But it’s why you start doing it in the first place that’s interesting. A lot of it was being a child actor; I learned to suppress feelings.”
Now clean and sober, Fergie says a positive attitude and self-discipline keeps her from letting life’s hard knocks keep her down.
“Even through disappointments and rejection, there was something inside of me that wouldn’t give up,” she says. “I’m a survivor, and I’m very driven.
“Basically, there were periods of my life when a lot of people didn’t believe in me. [But] I still had faith in myself.
I really had to ask myself life questions: Where do I see myself in five years? Create a ladder for yourself, and walk up the steps. Climb that ladder.
[If] you start making the right choices for yourself, all of a sudden you start feeling better and better. You’d be surprised how addicting high self-esteem is.”
Fergie maintains her incredibly lean, taut physique by working out constantly. “I work out all the time,” she says.
She adds: “Cardio, resistance and a lot of jogging. I love to go hiking. I’m bringing my trainer on tour. I said I’m going to invest this in myself, into my self-worth, into my self-esteem.”
