Paula Abdul admits painkiller addiction

Paula Abdul's injuries
In the June issue of Ladies’ Home Journal (LHJ), the “American Idol” judge, who is expected to perform her new single "I'm Just (Here for the Music)" on Wednesday's live show, has opened up about her 12-year-long addiction to painkillers, revealing that in 2005 she was diagnosed with a condition, reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (RSD), as a result of her various injuries that required aggressive pain management.

Abdul said she suffered the RSD due to a number of injuries she sustained during dancing and cheerleading sessions, as well as those sustained from a 1992 car collision and a 1993 plane crash into an Iowa cornfield which required 15 spinal surgeries.

Abdul's admission of painkiller addiction
In an interview with LHJ posted on the magazine’s Web site on Tuesday, Abdul said she began taking painkillers and Chinese medicines to combat pain from injuries. "I couldn't cancel my tour," Abdul said. "I didn't want anyone to count me out. I tried to keep everything hush-hush."

The singer revealed that she wore a patch that delivered a pain medication 80 times more potent than morphine, took a nerve medication, and sometimes took a muscle relaxer, which altogether caused her to “get weird,” at times.

“I could have killed myself … Withdrawal — it’s the worst thing,” Abdul told the magazine.

Abdul also revealed how difficult it was for her to detox when she checked herself into the La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, California, last Thanksgiving to help beat her dependence on painkillers.

"I was freezing cold, then sweating hot, then chattering and in so much pain, it was excruciating," the 46-year-old judge/singer told the LHJ. "But at my very core, I did not like existing the way I had been."

Adbul’s recent admission of painkillers use differs from her past statements in which she denied ever abusing prescription drugs. Last month, when asked by ABC News program Nightline's Cynthia McFadden whether she had ever abused prescription drugs, Abdul answered, "Never."

In 2007 on NBC program “Today,” the pop star told co-anchor Matt Lauer: “I’ve never been addicted to painkillers,” adding that “Painkillers don’t work for me.”

American Idol judge and Grammy award winning American television personality is now planning to re-launch her music career with a new album in the Fall, her first in over 14 years. She will perform her single “I’m Just (Here for the Music)” for the first time ever on the “Idol” results show on Wednesday.