Mary J. Blige On Her Younger Self

Mary J. Blige discussed her early years as a young star in a recent interview on CBS News. The singer's growth has been well-documented, and Mary says the younger her was almost a different person. She says she was naive about fame and her influence on a generation.

“I started speaking about what I was dealing with through my music, and 4 million women responded and said, ‘Us too, Mary. And I didn’t know that everyone was hurting like I was hurting. I had no idea. [...] I didn’t know who I was," Blige says. "So if ghetto fabulous and keeping it real and all of that was what I was, I was cool with that … until I learned that I can be more than that. The younger Mary J. Blige, I would call her, she was very unaware, ignorant.”She didn’t know how to sit down and give an interview and respect the interviewer. I’ve grown a lot in that area."

"I don’t know how I knew that whatever I am – which is broken and unarticulate – would help people," she added. "Because I didn’t know I would grow and evolve to this. But I just was completely like, ‘I don’t want to take no etiquette.’ I didn’t care about taking an etiquette class."