Amber Valletta, the well-known actress and model, has always been candid about her struggle with cocaine and alcohol for one reason – to help others. “My hope is that someone somewhere 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”.
“I suffer from a disease called addiction”, she says. “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember”.
Valletta has said she started looking for ways to get high starting a the age of 8 because she was “uncomfortable being a human being. I sniffed markers, I sniffed glue, fingernail polish, anything that could give me a buzz”.
By the time she was 22, she was a very successful model and her career was at its peak. At this time she was abusing alcohol and cocaine.
“I had a multi-million dollar deal and I showed up the first day to shoot this campaign high and drunk”, she admits. “I didn’t care and that just to show you addiction takes you to the worst places”.
The Oklahoma native says the modeling industry contributed to her disease. “I was in a business where drugs and alcohol were widely accepted and they were given to me”. But she takes full responsibility for her actions. “I was not a victim, she says. “I don’t blame anyone”.
Valletta first sought help at 25 because “I didn’t want to die”. She has stayed sober for 20+ years and still feels it is important to share her story.
