The 36-year-old singer is getting ready to return to the music scene after a 13-year hiatus and she’s been very transparent about her experiences outside of the limelight.

In a recent interview with M+M+M+ Show, the singer opened up about her cocaine addiction and how she overcame it.

According to Nivea, she “did everything late.” She didn’t experiment with drugs and liquor until 2010 after she stopped breastfeeding her youngest son:

I’m a be honest. I did everything late. I didn’t smoke weed until 2010 after I stopped breastfeeding my youngest son.

The pill thing – I can’t do. I drink though. I had to stop that. Brown liquor…I’m a whiskey girl…has sugar in it and it makes you freakin’ fatter. I had to stop that. But yeah, I like to drink.

I smoke weed here and there. Never no needles, no crack. I’ve done coke. But no pills.

That’s it.

My experience with cocaine…that wasn’t something I felt public with where people want to party. It didn’t do none of that for me. It was more of a mental thing.

I had a different reaction than most people. I wanted to be alone. It was a personal drug. I wanted to write, play Sudoku, it put me in my head.

Nivea also revealed the cycle of addiction in her family:

I come from an addicted family, both of my parents were on crack. My mom got off and my dad struggled over the years, and recently, over the past year, went to rehab, but that was the last 30 years of my life. The struggle is real.

I was real caught up with the cocaine situation. It was pretty bad. I pulled myself up out of it though. In the midstthough, I knew that was something I was allowing to happen, which was dangerous and reckless, but I knew I was going to come out of it somehow.

She went on to talk about how her kids saved her life:

Even though sometimes it got tough and I was like, ‘Damn.’ I talked to Dream about it. I was about to give the kids up, which I think helped me. Because without them, I would have died.

I can’t live without all of them. I need them for air.

Nivea also sat down with BET for an interview. Check it out

Nivea HAS always been one of my favorites , Im so happy she’s healthy and back on the scene. Glow Girl Glow!