Mary J. Blige says Whitney Houston’s death helped her get sober

hitney Houston and Mary J. Blige backstage after rehearsing for the 'VH1 Divas Las Vegas', a concert to benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, 5/23/02. Photo by Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect

Mary J. Blige turned to God to help battle her drinking problem in the wake of Whitney Houston’s death one year ago.

The self-identified born-again Christian admits the 2012 tragedy hit her hard and made her realize it was time to seek spiritual help in an effort to address her problem with binge drinking.

She tells Los Angeles Confidential magazine, “I didn’t want to go to rehab. I believe that anything man himself can do for me, God can do in a greater way. I decided to pray and to seek God on my own. I just stayed in the Word. And it worked.”

Blige admits she struggled with alcohol addiction after trying to cut back and just drink socially.

The “No More Drama” singer adds, “I chose to learn how to drink socially and it didn’t work. The test comes when you have to decide whether you’re drinking to be social or drinking to cover up something again. To cover up depression, to cover up guilt. Shame. Abandonment… Once I realized, ‘There you go again,’ I had to stop.”

“Whitney Houston’s death really affected me. Her death is another reason I stopped. I really do think I’m done. I looked at how that woman could not perform anymore,” Blige said.