Jojo was restricted to a "500-calorie diet a day" when she was 18.
The 29-year-old singer topped the US Billboard charts with ‘Leave (Get Out)’ when she was just 13 back in 2004 – but Jojo has now revealed the pressure she was facing from her record label in order to look like a pop star.
She recalled: "When I was 18 I remember being sat down in the Blackground office and the president of the label being like, ‘We just want you to look as healthy as possible.’
"And I was like, ‘I’m actually the picture of health. I look like a healthy girl who eats and is active. I don’t think this is about my health. I think that you want me to be really skinny.’ He’s like, ‘No, I wouldn’t say that.’"
The singer admits the situation caused her to lose self-confidence.
Speaking to Uproxx, she continued: "I ended up working with a nutritionist who had me on a 500-calorie diet a day. I was taking these injections that make you have no appetite.
"I was like, ‘Let me see how thin I could become because maybe then they will put out an album. Maybe I’m so disgusting that nobody wants to see me in the video and they can’t even look at me.’ That’s really what I thought."
Ultimately, Jojo turned towards drugs and alcohol in order to feel "pretty".
The pop star now admits she’s lucky to be alive.
She shared: "There were definitely nights that I stumbled out of clubs and that I blacked out. I was just completely reckless, did not care. I needed to be buzzed to feel okay.
"I would go to the edge, stand on my tiptoes on the edge and then come back. I should be dead."
Jojo: I was restricted to a 500-calorie diet
