Dennis LeupoldElle King is opening up about her battles with substance abuse and mental illness in the latest issue of People magazine.
The singer, whose album Shake the Spirit comes out Friday, admits, “Last year almost broke me, but I’m stronger now because of it.”
Elle says she was in a “destructive marriage” with Andrew Ferguson, during which Ferguson was arrested and charged with felony domestic violence after allegedly grabbing Elle by the throat and threatening to kill her. The charges were later dropped.
After they broke up last year, Elle says she struggled with depression and PTSD, and used drugs and alcohol to mask her pain.
“I was at the lowest point in my life,” she says. “I was not well. I couldn’t look people in the eyes. I literally couldn’t leave my house for weeks at a time.”
Eventually, Elle got help, seeking treatment from a PTSD specialist last summer and easing up on her hard-partying ways. She also leaned on friends and family, and mended her relationship with dad Rob Schneider. She says they now have the relationship she “always wanted.”
“There’s two ways out. You can take the bad way out or you can get help. I got help because I knew that I have felt good in my life and I knew I could get there again,” Elle says.
Elle adds that though she still drinks and smokes marijuana, “I have a different fun now — it’s not having fun out of pain.
“I’ve changed a lot,” she declares. “I’m finding my own self-love, and I’m inviting love, outwardly in.”
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