She ruled the airwaves with FLEETWOOD MAC in the '70s, then as a solo artist in the '80s. But then rock 'n' roll sex symbol STEVIE NICKS disappeared, fighting a losing battle with drugs, weight gain and depression. Tonight, she bares her soul to the world on ABC's " 20/20 Downtown ."

Now 53 years old, Stevie has a new album and a new outlook on life. But climbing back to the top is never as easy as falling from it, especially when cocaine shoves you down. "It was as part of the day as having orange juice in the morning," Stevie tells "20/20"'s CYNTHIA McFADDEN. "Nobody had any idea how insidious and dangerous and horrible it was -- it just becomes something that you think, 'Well, can't get out of bed. I can't even go shopping without doing some coke. I can't even go out to a movie without doing some coke.' Somebody once said to me, you don't like to be told what to do, do you? But cocaine is telling you what to do every 10 minutes. It's telling you to get up and go into the bathroom and have a hit of cocaine. And I hated that."

But Nicks spent millions of dollars on coke, and the drug eventually burned a hole in her nose -- literally. The amount she was taking could have easily killed her. Stevie says her doctor told her that the next time she did coke she could have a total brain hemorrhage. "And I still went on the road for seven months with that information under my belt," she reveals. "And I tried very hard to be as careful and do as little as I could and get through each day."

Nicks says the last time she used cocaine on stage was during a concert at Red Rocks in 1986. It was a turning point for her. Afterwards, she went straight to the Betty Ford Clinic. But in attempting to help herself, she encountered a problem far worse than her cocaine problem -- a new addiction to prescription drugs. Fresh out a rehab, a psychiatrist put Stevie on a tranquilizer called klonopin. Generally prescribed for seizures and panic attacks, experts say it should not be taken for more than nine weeks. Stevie says she took it for eight years, learning way too late that klonopin is highly addictive and can have side effects like depression and weight gain. "My woman's vanity could not deal with that at all. After being a rock 'n' roll sex symbol for all that time, and then all of a sudden to be 'little fat girl' was just so unacceptable to me. I could see the disappointment in people's faces when they'd see me walk in." It took 47 days for the singer to detox from the prescription drug, "...and it was horrible," she says. "My hair turned gray. My skin molted. I couldn't sleep, I was in so much pain. Legs aching, muscle cramps.... The rock star in me wanted to get in a limousine and go to Cedar's Sinai and say, 'Give me some demerol because I am in pain.' And the other side of me said, 'You will fight out this 47 days.'"

Stevie lived to tell the tale, and has found the creative energy she lost to her addictions. But living the life of a rock star can leave an empty shell. After many relationships with fellow rockers, including Fleetwood Mac bandmates LINDSAY BUCKINGHAM and MICK FLEETWOOD, and three EAGLES, including DON HENLEY, she's ended up alone. "It's the price. No husband. No children," she says. "But then I can always look at it this way: I could be married and divorced, my husband could be married to a 23-year-old girl. My children could be juvenile delinquents (laughs) -- which they would have been."

So, is it "an oxymoron to be 53 and a rock star?" asks "20/20"'s McFadden. "What else would I be at this point, you know?" shrugs Stevie. "I love going out there and singing. That's my mission here. That's why I'm here."

Video

Stevie reveals her struggles with cocaine and detox. Watch