Julie Roberts Opens Up About Battle With Multiple Sclerosis

It's been a few years since we have heard from country singer Julie Roberts, but she has been filming a new video and putting the finishing touches on a new album as of late. But her latest blog entry reveals the reason behind her hiatus from the spotlight: She has been battling Multiple Sclerosis for almost five years now.

Roberts was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis while recording her second album, 2006's 'Men and Mascara,' but she knew there was something wrong well before that. Remembering her time on the road in support of her first record, she says, "I’d be in the middle of a show and couldn’t hold my microphone anymore. I would get these electric shocks that would start at the back of my head and felt like it would spread all over my head."

She adds, "I would be signing in my autograph line after a show and while writing the name my fan would give me, I couldn’t even see what I was writing. My vision was very blurry most nights. If I was in the gym, I couldn’t even hold weights."

This all led to her going to the doctor, and when they took an MRI of her brain, they found 11 lesions that signaled her diagnosis.

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that can be slowed down with medicine, but Roberts chose not to take medication; she instead decided to eat well and work out daily in an attempt to keep healthy, but a scan at the end of last year showed that the lesions in her brain have now increased to 12.

Still, the country singer says, "I still have times when my hands quit working or when I can barely pull up a pair of pants, but when I really take care of myself, I feel great!"

On her blog, she shares what's helped her get through it all: "We all have stumbling blocks on our path that we have to figure out how to cross and get around. God NEVER leaves you to figure this out alone. Ask him what to do. Trust in Him and not in someone that does not have your best interest at heart."

Roberts wants her fans to know she will not stop making albums, and she intends to get back on the road, too. Her plan is to have her record ready by Memorial Day weekend to sell on iTunes and at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. "I am SO, SO excited about this new video and my new record," Roberts gushes. "I’ve put in years of work on these projects and I hope you LOVE THEM like I do!"

Watch Julie Roberts' 'Men and Mascara' Video