I drank alcohol for the better part of 20 years. That’s 7,300 days. From the outside, I had it all: my own show on Fox News Channel along with a healthy salary, a beautiful apartment, nice clothes, the ability to travel whenever I wanted, and family and friends who loved me. But inside I was dead. If I wasn’t drinking, I was thinking about a drink or recovering from drinking. Booze was my best friend. It made me a lot of promises and told me a lot of lies.

After hitting bottom, I began seeing an addiction psychiatrist and was introduced to a program of recovery by a friend who had achieved what I wanted. I have nearly 5 years of sobriety and am astonished – and delighted – to say that the desire to drink has been eliminated. I take it one day at a time, comforted by a huge support system that includes fellow recovering alcoholics, family, friends, and colleagues.

After my anonymity was broken in early 2011, I decided to embrace the opportunity to go public with my battle with alcoholism. I went on The Today Show to share the message that addiction doesn’t discriminate, that people don’t have to suffer in silence, and that help is available. My goal then and now is to put a human face on this treatable disease and chip away at the misconceptions that still very much exist in our society. I want to do whatever it takes to increase awareness and educate those who do not understand that this disease affects many American families in one way or another.

I am a proud member of the Caron Foundation’s New York Advisory Board, the National Youth Recovery Foundation, and the Bridge Way sober high school in Philadelphia. I give speeches and host recovery events around the country. This work has become the most important part of my life.

I am filled with gratitude to be part of the solution, and thankful that I’m finally becoming the woman I was meant to be.