Alisan Porter, the star of 1991’s Curly Sue, is now a happily married mother of two, and is in the process of recording an album and launching her own mommy blog. While Porter’s life seems perfect now, the 33-year-old former child star just confessed on her website that she has been privately dealing with the struggles of being a recovering alcoholic.

Porter opened up about her alcoholism on Thursday in a blog post on her website, Lil’ Mamas. The actress revealed that, despite her struggles, she hasn’t touched alcohol or drugs since Oct 28, 2007.

“Hi, I’m Ali, and I’m an alcoholic. Yup, bet you didn’t see that one coming. Or, because you know that I’m a former child star, you totally did,” wrote Porter, who went on to explain how difficult it is for non-addicts to understand her struggles.

“They can never understand that it’s not even really about a drink or a drug. In fact, it’s really not about substance at all. It’s about how you see people, how you treat yourself, how you feel about things, how you think people feel about you, what you could do, should do but don’t do. Your resentments, your lack of respect, your lack of power.”

Porter went on to explain that her road to recovery began during a period where she was “miserable and overwhelmed with life.”

“I was heartbroken and realizing that what had always worked for me in the past was NOT working at all. Not even a little bit. I felt trapped, scared, and sad and I was ready to really go for broke or get better. So, I did what every good user does and I prayed to a god I had never believed in… and then called my mom. Days later I was off to treatment, just like that. For the next four years I went to meetings, worked the steps, got a sponsor, found a god of my own understanding, prayed, meditated and basically grew up.”

Denying her desires to drink became easier after she married Brian Autenrieth and give birth to his two children, because she knew how much was at stake if she gave in.

“My kids lose their mother and, worse, I lose them. I don’t drink because I can’t. I want to, a lot of days, because I’m human and because life gets hard. But I don’t.”