Beyonce deals with weight and addiction in new movie role
Beyonce Knowles has been piling on the pounds to play jazz and blues great Etta James in the new movie 'Cadillac Records'.
The singer and actress has reportedly gained 20 pounds (nine kilograms) for the role, but admits that wasn't the hardest part of her transformation.
That came when she decided to visit a drop-in centre for drug addicts in Brooklyn, New York - where she studied James' drug issues.
Beyonce says: "I was really afraid. I didn't know what I would see, because I'd never seen anything like that.
"I didn't want to ask questions that were inappropriate, but (the people there) were very open and I have a new understanding. I never judge, but I just didn't understand how, if you had children and so many things to lose, you could be so deep into your addiction that you just let all of that go."
