'That hair!' LeAnn Rimes shares a throwback photo of herself as a child star with huge bouffant 

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 15:31 EST, 26 January 2017 | Updated: 18:11 EST, 26 January 2017

She's come a long way!

Music veteran LeAnn Rimes shared an awkward throwback photo on Thursday of herself from back when she was first starting out as singer.

Dressed in a red dress with puffy sleeves, little LeAnn shoots the camera a sweet smile on the cover of her first album, her teased blonde hair piled high on her head. 

Something in the hair: LeAnn Rimes shared this throwback photo of herself from when she was a child star

Still shining: The former child star, seen here at the 2014 CMT Music Awards, says it was difficult growing up in the limelight

'My little 8 year old self. This was my first tape. #tbt #throwbackthursday #throwback #thathair #whereitallbegan,' the 34-year-old captioned the adorable picture. 

After finding international fame at just 13, the country crooner has previously opened up about the pitfalls of being a child star.

'It's very confusing when you've been on a pedestal for a really long time, and then that success goes away for some people, or all of a sudden people build you up to tear you down,' she wrote in an opinion piece for Yahoo! in 2013. 'People don't come out of the other side of it with a clear head, and I think that's probably the biggest thing.' 

'It's very confusing when you've been on a pedestal for a really long time, and then that success goes away,' she said, seen here as a teenager with music legend, Elton John

She described it as a bizarre time in her life, and said it was difficult to come through unscathed.

'It was definitely a very strange way to grow up. The developmental stages of the pre-teen years were kind of stunted in a lot of ways for me,' she continued. 'I had to let parts of myself that were underdeveloped catch up with the other parts that were overdeveloped. The biggest challenge was really growing into a woman in the most normal way I could.'

As an adult, LeAnn says she would never encourage her own kids to get into showbiz. 

With the band: The now 34-year-old carved out a successful country music career for herself when she was just a teen

'That would be a decision that I think they would make when they got older,' she wrote. 'But I think it's imperative that parents be parents, and keep their kids kids as long as they can.' 

The star has just released a new single, Love Line, which she says was inspired by her stepsons, Mason, 13, and Jake, nine, her 43-year-old husband, Eddie Cibrian's kids with ex-wife, Brandi Glanville, 44.

'At first I wanted to write about being a stepmom to my stepsons… letting them know that we were bound not by a bloodline but by a love line,' she told website The Boot. 'After the song was finished and I could step back and really listen to it, I realized that the song was not just for them but for everyone, that we are all bound together by love.'

Happily ever after: The singer has been married to actor Eddie Cibrian since 2011, and is stepmom to his two sons with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville

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