LeeAnn Rimes denies
"People said I was [anorexic], but I didn't have a problem with eating, as I ate a ton all the time -- I could eat my husband under the table!" she tells the U.K. publication. "But I was going through a time when I just wasn't sleeping -- my mind wouldn't shut off and my heart was breaking."
That heartbreak was a result of her very public affair two years earlier with now-husband Eddie Cibrian. As first revealed by Us Weekly, Rimes, 30, and Cibrian, 39, met on the set of Northern Lights in 2009 when both were still married to other people -- she to dancer Dean Sheremet, he to future Real Housewife Brandi Glanville. They fell in love and eventually tied the knot, but the last few years have not been easy.
Rimes describes the period after their affair as a "turbulent" one. "To say I've been on several roller coasters is an understatement," she admits to the Daily Mail.
These days, though, she's in a much healthier place, both emotionally and physically. At least part of that is attributable to her decision last August to enter a 30-day rehab program for "anxiety and stress" issues. The other part, she says, is thanks to the support she gets from Cibrian.
"Now I'm secure about my body, although I'm like any other woman and have my moments of self-doubt. But it's nice to have a husband who tells you you're beautiful all the time," she gushes. "I'll say to him, 'I've gained a few pounds,' and he'll say, 'Good!'"
"It just gives you another level of confidence," she continues. "But being in this business, I've noticed that image-wise, it's definitely worse for a woman."
Rimes says Cibrian was also the inspiration for much of her new album, Spitfire. "I think the last four years of my life just came out through my music," she says. "I don't think I expected the album to be this honest, but I found that the emotions just came pouring out of me. It was liberating and cathartic to write, but it wasn't easy."
One song on the record, "Borrowed," describes the pain of being in love with a married man. "Obviously, it was a very controversial topic to write about, and as hard as it was for me to write the song, I think it painted a true picture of that situation," she tells the Daily Mail. "I wasn't being hard on myself when I wrote it -- that line about feeling pathetic was just true -- but I wanted to describe a very stark moment in my life. You just feel in complete limbo and I felt guilty too; it wasn't pretty at all. But I made my choices and I'm living with them. I know I'm not the first person to go through it and I won't be the last."
