'No More Drama' superstar Mary J. Blige has finally stopped "hating" herself and has finally overcome the darkness that plagued her for so long. 

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she explained that her new record 'My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1)' is a very personal exploration of her journey back to happiness, stability and self-discovery:

"I was abused as a child and it caused me to go into substance abuse and I had no love for myself because of the guilt and shame that came with that, so maybe I just started into hating myself and not loving myself and it snowballed into this thing that was bigger than me."

"And four million of those people are my fans right now, so I think it's important to do a sequel to the 'My Life' album, because we need to be reminded how far we've come because we were in such a dark, suicidal place where we really needed help and we have grown tremendously, understanding that we have to love ourselves."

She also added that while it was tough to go through everything that she did, it was so important and she couldn't have done it alone or without the support of her fans:

"I mean you know, to make a negative situation and turn it positive, it's what I did, it's what so many young women or men are going through right now, it's hard but what can you do, other than take the situation and turn it positive?"

"But you can't do it alone, it's spiritual. And that's what I did, I chose life over death, in spite of the hard times I was having. My wanting to get help when I said, 'no more drama' was a decision I made, I chose life, and when I chose life people came to me with help."

The record is due for release on November 21 and you can watch her interview from this morning's (November 1) BBC Breakfast in full below: