Amber Valletta Gets Candid About 20 Years Sober: 'Addiction Takes You to The Worst Places.'

Supermodel, Amber Valletta has inspired many on her road to success as a model, actress, activist, and Mother. Now she's inspiring others on her journey from addiction to recovery.

“I didn’t have a problem when I was out using, if you saw me high or drunk. So why would I be ashamed of being clean and saying: I have a disease that I can’t control?”

"Addiction Takes You To The Worst Places"

The 45-year-old opened up about her road to recovery in an interview. Today, she celebrates 20 years of sobriety.

"I had a multi-million

deal and I showed up the first day to shoot this campaign high and drunk," she revealed. "Addiction takes you to the worst places. I showed up to my uncle's bedside, and he was dying and I was still high, still drunk and looking for a place to go do another line."

Facing indecision, Valletta ultimately decided to come out about her past. In a viral 2014 speech, Valletta stated that from an early age she was "uncomfortable being a human being" and began looking for ways to feel high. "I sniffed markers, I sniffed glue, fingernail polish, anything that could give me a buzz." At the age of 10 she began smoking marijuana and at the age of 22, her alcohol and cocaine use had reached an all-time high. At the age of 25, the actress states she sought help because she, "didn't want to die."

She noted, "my hope is that someone, somewhere in this room, out of this room will hear something that will help them and perhaps get them out of the shadows and the darkness of addiction and bring them into the light," Valletta said regarding her decision to speak publicly about her addiction.

"I Want To Live It."

Today, Valletta's sobriety is as strong as it's ever been. “Only by being sober do I have any chance of survival," she said in the interview. "Left to my own devices, I guarantee you no matter how much I love life, my family, if I take a drink or any of my drugs of choice, I’ll be dead. I’ll ruin everything.”

Even after 20 years of sobriety, the model reveals how she copes with her ups and downs, living life day-by-day, “I want to be the person that I aspire to be. I don’t want to talk it, I want to live it. I want to allow myself the space to have bad days, be sad, be mad, be loving and accepting of others. Even people that I don’t think are right. It’s hard to do, but I want to move through the world as gently as I can.”