Delta Burke says she used crystal meth for weight loss

Delta Burke is opening up about how perception about her body led her to using drugs.

The “Designing Women” star, 67, appeared on an episode of “Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast” released Friday where she discussed how her sitcom fame impacted her body image, which she’s discussed in her 1998 memoir “Delta Style: Eve Wasn’t a Size 6 and Neither Am I.”

Burke said she was “emotionally too fragile” at the time of her fame, especially as it pertained to “ugly” interactions with fans.

“I thought I was stronger. I tried very hard to defend myself against lies and all the ugliness that was there and I wasn’t gonna win. I’m just an actress. I don’t have any power,” she said.

“Hollywood will mess your head up. And I had always thought, ‘I want to be a famous actress.’ I thought that meant that you would be a famous and well-respected actress, but that’s not what it meant,” the sitcom actress recalled. “And the moment I became famous, it was like, ‘Oh no, no, no. This is not what I had in mind at all. I don’t think I want to be this anymore.’ But then it’s too late.”

The “Steel Magnolias” actress said she began taking prescribed pills known as “Black Beauties” when she was attending drama school in London, only to find out they were illegal in the U.S.

“Black Beauties” are a street name for amphetamines, which are sometimes prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. However, the drug became popular for recreational use in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. They were outlawed in 1965, but not officially pulled from the market until 1998.

Source: USA Today