Mayor Rob Ford launched his new YouTube series Monday with an admission that he lied about using drugs because he was “embarrassed” and “didn’t want to tell the truth.”

The mayor appears with his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, in new four videos that were made available this morning on their YouTube channel.

One of the clips, titled “Rob Ford comes clean” features a question from a person identified as Sandra from Bangkok, Thailand, asking the mayor why he lied about his substance abuse problem when first asked.

“A) I do not have a substance abuse problem,” Ford says. “Did I experiment with drugs? Yes I have. Why did I lie? I think everybody in the world has lied. Because I was embarrassed. I didn’t want to tell the truth.

“I’m not a drug addict. I don’t use drugs. Have I in the past? Yes. When they ask me, it’s very, very humiliating in front of the world to say ‘yes,’ and everybody’s lied, so maybe people can tell me, why do you lie? People either lie to cover up, people lie because they’re embarrassed, and that’s why I lied.”

Ford did not acknowledge he lied in November, after he admitted to smoking crack cocaine following months of reports of a video in which he appears to be smoking the substance. During those months he was repeatedly questioned on his use of the drug. He said then that he did not lie, but that reporters “didn’t ask the correct questions.”

Shortly after the admission, council stripped Ford of most of his powers, making him essentially mayor in name only. Ford began 2014 by becoming the first candidate to register for the mayoral race, asking the public to focus on his record as mayor rather than his behaviour while in office.