Singer Daniel Powter has revealed he was sexually abused as a child.

The Bad Day hitmaker suffered in silence at the hands of a female babysitter for three years and later in life turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with his feelings of guilt and shame.

Powter made the shocking confession earlier this week (begs15Jul13) on a trip to Washington, D.C., where he showed his support for U.S. drug courts, which sentence non-violent offenders to treatment programmes instead of jail time.

He told local Tv news show Wusa9, "I thought that (addiction) was my problem. But it wasn't. That was my solution. It wasn't until I started digging in, taking a look at myself, saying I gotta work on some stuff (that) I don't want to look at (that I figured it out)."

Powter did not name his accuser during the interview, but the singer explained the unwanted sexual advances began when he was seven. He said, "My parents didn't know and I was too scared to tell them."