It's no secret that Mary J. Blige endured a lot of "drama" in her life. Her private battle with drugs and alcohol nearly ended her career. Thankfully, it was love that ultimately saved her.

On the newest episode of VH1's 'Behind the Music: Mary J. Blige,' the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul sheds light on her past struggles with alcoholism and credits the love of her then-boyfriend, now-husband, record honcho Martin Kendu Isaacs, with helping her get sober.

"The best thing you could do to me? Challenge me to challenge myself," reveals Blige of her battles with the bottle on the 'BTM' special. "I stopped drinking. It was will power. It was prayer. It was really hard. But, I cared so much about [Isaacs], I didn’t want to be just this alcoholic burden on him. He doesn’t deserve for me to be some, you know, slum-bucket alcoholic, and so I took responsibility and I cleaned up, as much as I could. But it was hard."

The episode, of course, documents Blige's triumphant rise in the R&B music industry and features interviews with Diddy, Blige's sister LaTonya Blige Dacosta and others. VH1's 'Behind the Music: Mary J. Blige' premieres July 24 at 10PM ET.

Meanwhile, Mary J. Blige has returned to acting with a new role in the upcoming film musical 'Rock of Ages.' In the movie, which also stars Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the singer plays Justice Charlier, a sexy owner of a popular strip club. Blige will also perform her renditions of such '80s classics like Pat Benetar's 'Shadows of the Night' and Journey's 'Any Way You Want It.'

PopCrush loves the photo (above, right) of her wearing a beaded hairstyle, which reminds us of the late R&B songbird Peaches (of Peaches and Herb fame).

Watch the 'VH1 Behind the Music: Mary J. Blige' Promo

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