Watch more on Abdul 's challenges '' Abdul acknowledged several years ago that she used medications to kill the pain for a series of injuries , but this is apparently her first admission she was hooked on them . When People magazine asked her about it in 2005 , she chose her words carefully : `` Drugs ? I 'm not addicted to pills of any kind , '' Abdul then said . Her painkillers were , in fact , not pills . Abdul wore a patch that delivered a pain medication about 80 times more potent than morphine , she told Ladies ' Home Journal . Abdul 's slurring of words and apparent confusion on `` American Idol '' and during interviews stirred rumors of a drug problem in recent years . She told the magazine , though , she was never under the influence during a show . Her pains began with a cheerleading accident at age 17 , but were compounded by later mishaps -- including a stage accident in 1991 , a car wreck in 1992 and a plane crash in 1993 , she said . The persistent hurting is almost gone after a 15th surgery
LOS ANGELES , California -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Paula Abdul is ready for another fresh start , now that she 's kicked her addiction to painkillers , the `` American Idol '' judge told a magazine . Paula Abdul told Ladies ' Home Journal that she struggled with a drug problem . The former pop star released a new song this week and will take the `` American Idol '' stage Wednesday night to perform it . Abdul , in an interview for the Ladies ' Home Journal 's June issue , acknowledged what she has denied for years -- that she had a drug problem . But last November , days after an obsessed fan apparently killed herself outside Abdul 's home , she went to a health spa where weaned herself off prescription pain medications she had used for a dozen years . `` Withdrawal -- it 's the worst thing , '' she told the magazine . `` I was freezing cold , then sweating hot , then chattering and in so much pain , it was excruciating . But at my very core , I did not like existing the way I had been . ''