Pop Star Pink Says She's 'Missundaztood'

Nov. 6 -- Pink's breakthrough album, Missundaztood, is full of painful tales of childhood — divorce, rebellion, disaffection and drugs. It's the stuff that may make parents shake their heads, but causes millions of alienated kids to nod in approval.

"I accept the challenge that kids are gonna be relating to me more so than a lot of people because I am telling the truth and I've been there," says the pop singer.

Her body language says it all: Don't mess with Pink. Just ask L.A. Reid, the CEO of Arista Records, who signed her to her first record deal. Reid says Pink's anger is both her strength and weakness.

"I mean, she might punch you in the face, you know? Beyond that, she is fairly harmless, you know?" Reid says. "She is who she is. And she is proud of who she is. And even the things that she wrestles with, she is proud to talk about them, you know? That's part of the appeal."

Pink grew up Alecia Moore in Doylestown, Pa., and she says that even then she was confused, angry and depressed. Pink's mother was an emergency room nurse, and her father sold insurance. A Vietnam War veteran, Alecia's father taught her boxing and karate so she could fend for herself.

What Alecia could not fight off was the impact of her parents' troubled marriage. After years of acrimony, her parents divorced, and her father moved out. Alecia's brother followed in their dad's footsteps, joining the U.S. Air Force.

Out of Control — And the House

By the time she was 15, Alecia fell into trouble at school and with the law. She was out of control, and left her mother's house. She was hopping from club to club, and experimenting with drugs.

"One week it's crystal, one week it's back to coke," Pink recalls from that time in her life. "And the next week it's heroin. I got out before it went there."

Alecia's love of partying was competing with another passion — music. "You just forget about anything that happened in school today or this morning with your parents or you forget how you look or how you feel," she says.