LeAnn Rimes has been through a very hard time in a very public way over the last few years, ever since her affair with actor Eddie Cibrian resulted in both of them ending their respective marriages and getting together. Now, the 30-year-old singer talks about the emotional fallout from those choices that drove her into treatment last year.

"I went in and took care of myself because I was stressed, I was depressed and anxious, and I didn't know how to process everything," Rimes tells Us Weekly. "Going away was something I really needed to do."

The country singer entered an in-patient facility last August to seek help in dealing with anxiety and stress, which she says resulted from the "emotional roller coaster" she was on after her affair became public. "I was feeling all these crazy emotions and feeling terrible about myself and was disgusted by myself and thought I was pathetic," she says candidly.

Rimes channeled many of those emotions into her new album 'Spitfire,' which is due June 4. "I think I opened up the can of worms for myself by writing this record," she relates. "There were a lot of things I didn't even realize I was feeling."

In the end, Rimes feels she's come out of those experiences a better person. "Sometimes it takes walking through those tough times to come out the other side stronger and wiser," she observes. "I'm gonna make mistakes as I move on in life, but that's who we are, and I'm fortunate that I've grown a lot and I'm proud of who I am now. It's a good place to be."

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