Today, Kenny Rogers is a role model for aspiring country singers, but that wasn't always the case, according to the 74-year-old. Rogers is coming clean about his past drug use in his new book, Luck or Something Like It: A Memoir.

Rogers cites his own mistakes as the reason why he's so quick to defend young celebrities who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Describing himself as the "original Lindsay Lohan" in the 304-page tell-all, the "Lucille" singer admits that he could have gone down a similar path of self-destruction.

"The reason I took up photography is I would go do my show, and I would have this incredible high for an hour-and-15 minutes, then I'd have all day with nothing to do," he explained on Anderson Live. "That's when you get in trouble. With people like Lindsay Lohan, first of all, it's become absolutely vicious, the tabloid journalism. They pay for pictures, and the worst picture you get, the more money it's worth. Having said that, you're still responsible for your own life. I never drank, never smoked, didn't do a lot of drugs. I did some."

Rogers recalls one drug-induced night which, while now a funny memory, was proof he was quickly heading down a dangerous path: "I smoked pot one night, and I decided to talk on stage," the Texan recounts. "I thought I was great. I was having the time of my life, and I came off the stage and the guys in the band said, 'What were you talking about when you went off on this thing about the zoo.

"[I said] What? Why would I have done that?" he adds with a laugh.

One thing that is not a laughing matter is his four failed marriages, which the singer-songwriter admits still causes him some pain. "I take the blame for it," Rogers concedes. "It's a man's responsibility to protect that relationship and I didn't do that. I was too driven ...

"I can't say [I have] regrets because I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't done this," he continues. "I could have been working at McDonald's. I regret the people I hurt along the way."

The entertainment icon has taken some flack over the years for his change in appearance after several plastic surgeries, but he stands by his decision. "It was a lot of money and a lot of time, and I thought, 'What the hell, I'll go do something,'" he explains.

"Dolly [Parton] and I used to laugh about it," Rogers shares. "It was all for the sake of what I thought was looking better. I'm not sure what I'd look like without it, so I'm happy."

See Kenny Rogers' + More Country Stars' Yearbook Pictures

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