Profiles Of Addiction Recovery | Fergie

Drug addiction is a difficult and complex disease that most people keep private, especially when it comes to something like crystal meth addiction.

However, former Black Eyed Peas singer Stacy Ann Ferguson, better known as Fergie of Fergalicious fame, has openly shared her past experience with methamphetamine, including the drug’s effects and her tumultuous journey through drug addiction to recovery and stardom.

Fergie’s Introduction To Meth

In 2012, Fergie shared an interview with Oprah that touched on her early experiences with meth. 

To set the scene, she had been in the girl band Wild Orchid at the time, and it wasn’t going well. She had a dream to fulfill her own solo album, but she didn’t know how to move forward. As a result, she started using drugs.

Starting with marijuana and the party drug ecstasy, Fergie was soon introduced to meth and found herself hooked. And it wasn’t long before she spiraled down to what she remembers as her lowest point, her rock bottom.

Hitting Rock Bottom

Within a matter of months, Fergie was down to 90 pounds and lying about being bulimic, broke, unemployed, and suffering from debilitating mental health conditions. 

In a 2017 interview with the U.K.’s iNews, she reported suffering from “chemically induced psychosis and dementia,” and was “hallucinating on a daily basis.”

Like many who experience the worst of methamphetamine’s effects, Fergie began living life in an alternate reality, paranoid and trapped inside her own mind. 

While visiting a church, Fergie was beset by a delusional belief that the CIA or FBI SWAT teams were outside, waiting to end her life.

But Fergie still had the awareness to have, in her words, a conversation with God.

“I remember thinking,” she recalled, “If I walk outside, and the SWAT team’s out there, I was right all along. But if they’re not out there, then it’s the drugs making me see things and I’m going to end up in an institution. And if it really is the drugs, I don’t want to live my life like this anymore, anyway.’ I walked out of the church; obviously, there was no SWAT team, it was just me in a parking lot. It was a freeing moment.”

Fergie’s Meth Addiction Recovery

All this took less than one year, a fact that, along with her guardian angels, Fergie credits with saving her life. 

After all, had she not reacted so poorly to the drug and experienced such negative mental effects so quickly, she may not have had the motivation to end her drug abuse until it was too late.

But that doesn’t mean her recovery was easy. In her own words, substance abuse was, “the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up with.”

Overcoming Meth Withdrawal

Withdrawing from methamphetamine use has a reputation for being mentally and physically taxing in the extreme. 

Those in detox often experience an emotional rollercoaster of depression, anxiety, hostility, and agitation along with physical pain, illness, fatigue, hallucinations, and overwhelming drug cravings.

And these effects can linger long after the initial, acute phase of withdrawal is finished. For Fergie, this meant a year of intrusive hallucinations after quitting the drug, until her brain chemistry finally adjusted.

Addiction Recovery & Fame

While many try and fail to quit substance abuse on their own, Fergie found success working with counselors and therapists who helped her to understand the effects of methamphetamine on her body and mind as well as the real reasons behind her impulse to use drugs in the first place.

Armed with this self-knowledge and a new drive to make her dreams a reality, Fergie would go on to find success with the Black Eyed Peas and eventually release the chart-topping singles and solo albums (The Dutchess in 2006 and Double Dutchess in 2017) she always dreamed of.

Fergie is proudly meth-free as of 2023, over two decades and counting.

If you or someone you love has been abusing meth or other illicit substances, we know how to help. Please contact us today to learn more.