In a shockingly candid interview with Essence, Ginuwine admitted that, at one point in his career, he battled drug addiction and contemplated suicide. Ginuwine, born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, has endured and survived his share of turbulence and heartache. In 1999, the singer suffered the lost of his 78 year-old father (he committed suicide) and the following year, his mother lost her battle with cancer.
"After my father shot himself to death and my mother died from cancer less than a year later, I really didn't want to be here anymore, I didn't want to live and tried to commit suicide more than once", confessed the 33 year-old singer, "there was no one around that I really loved at the time, so I turned to the drinking and drugs like weed and ecstasy. I was done mentally and emotionally to the point that I had to go see a psychiatrist, but that didn't do any good because I wasn't interested. In fact, the two times I visited him I was high. I was depressed and felt like I had nobody to talk to that could relate to me".
The R&B singer's turning point came after a close friend begged him to seek help.
"I had one friend who intervened and begged me to get help. Even though I didn't continue with my therapy, I went to church and received counselling from my pastor and got straight spiritually. I was able to turn away from all those things that were destroying me and finally think clearly. I had to ask myself whether or not I wanted to go out like my dad and have my kids hurt the way I was hurting," said Ginuwine.
The Pony singer has been clean and sober for almost 7 years.
"Now, I keep all that stuff away from me, especially when I'm on the road", confessed the singer, who is married to Who Dat rapper Sole aka Tonya M. Johnston.
Ginuwine's new album, A Man's Thoughts, is set to be released on June 23, 2009.
