Tulisa Contostavlos - Tulisa Contostavlos 'Sorry' For Teenage Thefts

The British singer/rapper has confessed she was a teenage thief and occasionally used drugs in a bid to encourage other role models to come forward and be honest about their troubled upbringing.

She's called on U.K. politicians to open up about any incidents of drug-taking when they were growing up - and she's issued an apology to victims of her own purse-stealing antics.

The I Need You hitmaker tells British magazine Fabulous, "How many politicians out there smoked weed in their teens but wouldn't have the balls to stand up to the country and admit it?

"We bring our children up to believe that honesty is the best policy and that we forgive people for their mistakes. But when someone stands up and says, 'This is what I did,' they get blasted for it.

"So what these people are asking me to do is lie? To pretend to be someone else? How is that being a role model? That's f**ked up. Yeah, I used to smoke weed. I don't any more. I'm a completely drug-free person. I've admitted to it, said I've had a really bad experience - I've never, ever glamorised it.

"Young girls look up to me because of what I've been through, the s**t I've got myself out of and where I am now. I will never apologise for my past... OK, I nicked (stole) a couple of handbags and I'm deeply unhappy I did that. But it was done to give myself power. I was vulnerable, I had no self-worth and I'd do anything to get some attention.

"So to those people I would say sorry, but there's really nothing else for me to be ashamed about."