"Bring It On" actress Eliza Dushku has revealed that she secretly battled alcoholism and drug addiction for years.
She's now sober.
During a speech at the New Hampshire Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness on March 7, she said, "Something a lot of people don't know about me is that I'm an alcoholic and I was a drug addict for a lot of years. I'm always going to be that, but the difference between me and an alcoholic or a drug addict that still drinks and does drugs is that I'm sober. I don't drink and I don't do drugs anymore."
The "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star said she's actually been sober for eight and a half years now.
"I loved the first time I took a drug because I loved the way it made me feel. I loved the way it made me not feel — I didn't have to feel," she said, admitting she first used marijuana when she was 14. "It was fun — and I loved it — until it wasn't. Drugs didn't love me. They didn't love my family. They definitely didn't love my friends that died."
She decided to finally get clean after hearing some harsh words from her brother.
"I was depressed. I didn't like myself, but I love my family," she said. "I remember my brother telling me he didn't want me to be around my niece because he didn't trust me."
Now, years later, she understands what he was saying.
"I'm a really good auntie today. But you know what? He was right. I'm a good person, but when I did drugs and I drank, I didn't make good decisions," she said. "All it takes is one bad decision. You don't have to live like that."
In ending her speech, she had some advice for other people struggling.
"If you're in trouble, all you have to do is say, 'I need help,'" the actress said. "I'm a real bada– and tough girl. It was the hardest thing in the world for me to ask for help and it was the most powerful thing I've ever done."