Former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona has spoken about her struggles with fame and said she "would not be sat here today" if it were not for her children.
The former singer, 45, stars in new BBC documentary Girlbands Forever, which looks at the girl groups of the 1990s and 2000s.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said: "It’s very nostalgic. We haven’t got girl bands any more. We don’t have, like, proper pop stars.
"I’m so incredibly blessed and grateful that I was a part of something so huge that is no longer with us.
"But what people don’t see is, they only see this glamorous side of us, they see us Saturday in our hair and make-up, performing.
"They don’t see the hard work that goes into it. At one stage, all three of us were on drips.
"It was incredibly hard. I think it’s also at an era where women were completely treated differently as well, and we had no control and no say-so over anything that was going on in the industry or with record companies."
Atomic Kitten formed in 1998 with a line-up of Liz McClarnon, Natasha Hamilton and Katona, who was replaced by Jenny Frost in 2001.
Katona said: "I’m 45 now, and I still struggle with the fame, which is one of the reasons why I left. It wasn’t what I expected.
"Aged 19, I was on antidepressants because I couldn’t handle the intrusion of what it is.
"I realised I didn’t want the fame or the riches. I wanted to be a mum and a wife and, being a kid from a foster home, that was all I ever actually craved."
She added: "(There were) so many lows. And I wouldn’t change any of it, because it’s made me who I am today. And like I said, I left Atomic Kitten because I couldn’t handle the fame. But for me, I don’t know why there was a massive interest."
Katona said the newspapers were "overly intrusive" while she was married to Westlife’s Brian McFadden, who she shares two children with.
Speaking about her struggles with fame, she said: "I turned to drugs. I didn’t know how else to cope with it. I mean, I haven’t gone down that road in 17 years, but I’ll take accountability and hold my hands up.
"But that was the only thing that kind of supported me. It was my friend, until it wasn’t my friend. If I didn’t have my children, I guarantee I would not be sat here today and they kept me going every single day."
Girlbands Forever airs on Saturday at 10:20pm on BBC Two.
