Singer JoJo opened up to PEOPLE magazine about the hardships and inspirations behind her forthcoming album, Good to Know. During the interview for this week’s edition, she shared that she has been celibate for the 10 months that she recorded the album after ruining her previous relationship with infidelity while abusing alcohol, which she used to consume to the point of blacking out at times.
“I self-sabotaged because I didn’t feel worthy of a loving, lasting relationship,” JoJo revealed. “I didn’t love myself. I am actively practicing self-love. It’s not just something you arrive at — I need to really work at it. The album just finds me processing and getting to a place of realizing I’ve never been alone my whole adult life. I’ve always been in a relationship with somebody, and I was delaying a really important part of becoming an adult, which is being independent.”
While she admits that she enjoyed dates, the R&B pop star also enjoyed being able to go her separate ways following.
“I would go out on dates, but I loved saying, ‘Okay, good night.'”
JoJo confessed that she once struggled with using alcohol to cope with her depression, saying that “There have been periods of time where I have consciously not drank, but I’m not sober — my relationship with alcohol is different now. I don’t drink to escape.”
The former child star rose to fame at just 13-years-old with her smash hit “Leave (Get Out).” However, a struggle with clinical depression, her father’s opioid addiction, and a years-long lawsuit with her former record label that nearly ended her career overwhelmed the young star who was already grappling with the day to day pressures of stardom.
“I’ve been going to therapy since I was 18. I had more weight on my shoulders than I could bear. I would talk to my therapist once a week, and now it’s kind of as needed, but it’s really nice to have that impartial and professional opinion. I’m very fortunate that I could do that.”
Fortunately for JoJo, therapy, and antidepressants for the past decade have helped her to overcome her mental battles. She also notes exercise, yoga, journaling, and self-proclamations as healthy coping mechanisms for her in her recovery process.
“It was like banging my head against the wall until I believed it or until I actually did it,” she says. “My therapist told me to act as if: like if you don’t feel confident, act as if you are. You don’t feel like a bad bitch, act as if you do — and then you do.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggWyUEuGcWY
