LeAnn Rimes: 'I lost my mind in private'

LeAnn Rimes almost ended her music career after suffering from stress, anxiety and depression.

The Can't Fight the Moonlight singer rose to fame aged 13, sold more than 44 million records globally and won two Grammy Awards during her career, but she fell out of the public's good graces in 2009 when she split from first husband Dean Sheremet following an affair with married actor Eddie Cibrian.

She received criticism online and she had trouble coping with the backlash, and subsequently checked into rehab in 2012 for treatment for anxiety and stress.

"I lost my mind in private," she tells Britain's The Sun newspaper. "I've gone through a lot, every transition and every feeling that goes along with being a child star... I can see now why at 33 things happened the way they did and all of these lessons I've learned. But it was hell at times."

She was tempted to quit music following the scandal, but is now in a much better place and is returning after a three-year break with ballad The Story, which is released at the end of June (16) through a new deal with Sony's RCA Records.

Eddie, 42, split from his reality TV star wife Brandi Glanville following the affair in 2009. LeAnn married the actor in 2011 and is stepmother to his sons Mason and Jake.

"I'm very happy now," she continues. "We've been married for over five years and I have my two stepsons, but the shaming thing, that's where I had severe anxiety and depression... It was a mistake but it also led me to my marriage. I didn't know how to deal with that and it became this snowball effect."

She recently posted a throwback picture with fellow ex-child star Britney Spears at an awards show, and she admits they should have talked to each other about their struggles with stardom.

"Britney and I never spoke about it, but we should have," she said. "There's nobody that really relates to that – most of them in that position are not with us anymore, because of that reason – being a child star. It's a trippy place to be."

Britney famously had a meltdown in 2007, displaying erratic behaviour and on one occasion attacking a photographer's car with an umbrella.