To kick off the inaugural episode of her new podcast, The Ally Brooke Show, former Fifth Harmony member Ally Brooke got candid about her experience in the popular girl group.
"We took the entertainment industry by storm," said Ally. "Looking back at that, I sometimes don’t even realize how big we were."
"Because I guess if you’re part of something like that, you can’t even grasp because your life is moving 1,000 miles a minute. It was such a whirlwind."
But despite their multi-platinum success and providing fans with anthems time and time again, Ally pointed out that her time with Fifth Harmony wasn't always positive.
"I hate saying this — my time in Fifth Harmony…I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t love it. It was hard because there was so much going on."
"So much behind the scenes. So much toxicity. So much abuse. So much abuse of power. So much mental abuse. Verbal abuse. It’s horrible."
The 27-year-old singer also admitted that she didn't really trust anyone around her, including "people that were in our circle."
"It really damaged me for quite some time and for quite a while. I don’t want to hang onto the negative, but I have to be honest."
Ally recalled a time when a label head tried to "take advantage" of her:
I show up to meet with him and he gives me a freaking thong. I know what he was trying to do. I was humiliated. I was going there super vulnerable [asking for help]... At the time, that behavior was accepted.