Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

Disgraced actress Erika Sawajiri, 24, has continued her comeback with a splashy appearance in the May issue of fashion mag Glamorous. In a glossy 24-page spread, Sawajiri—who spent most of 2009 in self-imposed exile in London and Spain—speaks candidly about rumors of drug use and her rocky relationship with the Japanese media. “I’ve never touched drugs,” she states. “I’ve never been a suspect or questioned by police… [the media] were spreading these rumors about me at the same time Japan’s government was changing hands last summer. There were more important things to be covering than me then, weren’t there?”