Stevie Nicks in Her Own Words

Sept. 7 -- Stevie Nicks has been in the public spotlight for 30 years as a member of Fleetwood Mac and then as a successful solo artist. In an interview during her "Trouble in Shangri-La" tour, ABCNEWS' Cynthia McFadden talked to the rock icon.

You got your first guitar at 16… then what happened?

The day before my 16th birthday I got my guitar. And on my birthday, then I wrote a song about my first love affair… It was a relationship at 15-and-a-half, where I was absolutely crazy about this guy. And he broke up with me. Thank God he broke up with me, because if he hadn't… I wouldn't have been spurred on to write that song… I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't have been for that. And when that song was done, I knew that I was going to be a songwriter. And I think my mom and dad knew it too.

When did you first use cocaine?

I think the first time that I used coke was when I was a cleaning lady and I was cleaning somebody's house and as a joke, they left a line of coke underneath something, just to see if I was really a thorough house cleaner. And of course I was, and of course I found it. That's the first time that I actually remember using it… That was like 1973…

It was amazing how when people talked about it, how not a big thing it was. Nobody was scared. Nobody had any idea how insidious and dangerous and horrible it was.

How much did you spend on cocaine?

Millions. Millions. And yes, don't I wish that we had that money and I could give it to cancer research today. Yes, I do.

I would be happy if nobody had ever shown me that drug. And that's what I always want to be careful to tell people is that… just like everything else, for two, three years it was really fun. But it turns into a monster. So it's not worth it to do it for those two or three years of fun because it will eventually kill you.

How do you finally realize that you have to stop?

I went to a plastic surgeon who told me, "You know, you're really going to have a lot of problems with your nose if you don't stop doing this." And [that] really scared me. And then I went and did a seven-month tour… and I came home and I went straight to Betty Ford. And nobody had to make me go. I wanted to go as quick as possible.