Former Fin.K.L. member Lee Hyori is internationally known as a fashion icon and a chart-topping solo artist.

Bit there was a time when the name Lee Hyori signified something quite different to many--plagiarism.

In 2010, when news spread that six of the songs from Lee's fourth album "H-Logic," were plagiarized, the singer says her mental health was pushed to the breaking point.

"I drank alcohol every day, nervous that I would lose my popularity overnight and sad that I had been tricked," Lee said on Tuesday's episode of the South Korean television program "Hwashin."

"I went to a mental clinic when [comedian] Kim Je Dong suggested I do so."

The star received what she called a mental health "checkup."

"For checkups, you don′t need to receive counseling because it just takes a look at your mind from many different angles, using hundreds of questions, observations and drawings," Lee explained.

"I sometimes lied to save face, but they even knew I had lied for some questions. I was comfortable with it because it was just a checkup and not a counseling session."

K-pop's Queen of the "Bad Girls" admits the doctor picked up on her rebellious streak.

"I was really defiant toward higher-ups like broadcasting channel presidents and advertisers who could affect me a lot," Lee recalled.

"The doctor picked that up, saying 'You are defiant toward those higher than you, right?' and told me that was because my father had been strict toward me. At one point I even suffered from [social phobia] because I wanted to resist the public and how they could affect me with how interested they were in me."

And what was the doctor's professional prognosis of the singer's mental health?

"I received the checkup because I was depressed, but they told me I was in fine shape," she said.

"I found my confidence again when they told me I was born with [mental tenacity]. I felt I would be able to weather anything."

Last year, Lee told the host of the Seoul Broadcasting System television program "Healing Camp" that she found herself in the middle of the plagiarism scandal after feeling the pressure to deliver a follow-up single to her hit "U Go Girl."

"I needed a song that would be even better then 'U Go Girl' and through an acquaintance I received a song from a rookie songwriter and really liked it," Lee recalled.

"I did not find out too much about the songwriter and just took the songs. The six songs that were deemed to be plagiarized were not songs that were well known, nor did they have copyright restrictions.  Even if we tried to find out about the songs it would have been tough.  After releasing my fourth album I was accused of plagiarism and received an email from the original creator of the songs."

The singer claims she was duped by a rogue composer.

"The rookie songwriter sent me 200 songs and all of them were plagiarized," Lee said.

"I asked him why he plagiarized all these songs but all he could say to me was sorry.  That songwriter is currently in prison."

Lee's fifth album "Monochrome" was released in May, receiving both critical and commercial success.