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'I'm sober for me': Eliza Dushku reveals she battled drug addiction to the point she was banned from seeing her niece

Published: 15:00 EDT, 7 March 2017 | Updated: 11:35 EDT, 8 March 2017

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Eliza Dushku has revealed the depths of her addiction problems for the first time.

The 36-year-old has never hidden her sobriety but has not openly spoken about why she did not drink until now.

The Bring It On star opened about about her issues to warn a group of young people at the Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

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'I am an alcoholic and addict': Eliza Dushku has revealed the depths of her addiction problems for the first time as she opened about about her issues to warn a group of young people at the Youth Summit on Opioid Awareness in New Hampshire on Tuesday

The star, who came to the event at the request of Mark Wahlberg's brother Jim, revealed to the 8,000 middle and high school students she is both a recovering drug addict and alcoholic.

Eliza - who first started using drugs at 14 - said in her speech, recorded by WMUR: 'Something a lot of people don't know about me is that I am an alcoholic and I was a drug addict for a lot of years.

'You hear people say 'I am that' because I am that and I'm always going to be that but the difference between me an alcoholic of drug addict that still drinks and does drugs is that I am sober.'

The Buffy actress frankly said: 'I loved the first time I took a drug because I loved how it made me feel, I loved the way it made me not feel and I didn't have to feel. It was fun and I loved it until it wasn't.

Started young: The Buffy actress was just 14 when she started using drugs, 'I loved the first time I took a drug because I loved how it made me feel, I loved the way it made me not feel and I didn't have to feel. It was fun and I loved it until it wasn't'

'I got sober for my family, but today I'm sober for me': It was her family that motivated her to get sober but she is the reason she stays sober

'Drugs didn't love me, they didn't love my family. They definitely didn't love my friends that died, I have a lot of friends that are dead.'

Eliza - who has been sober for eight years - told the students that at one point her problem with drugs got so bad her family banned her from seeing her niece, Sofia, who was a toddler at the time.

The actress told the summit that her brother was right in banning her from seeing her niece.

Out of control: Eliza - who has been sober for eight years - told the students that at one point her problem with drugs got so bad her family banned her from seeing her niece, Sofia, who was a toddler at the time

Committed: The actress said, 'I got sober for my family, but today I'm sober for me, and I'm sober for you. Drugs and alcohol are powerful, but we are more powerful'

'I'm a good person but when I did drugs and I drank, I didn't make good decisions... And all it takes is one bad decision.'

It was her family that motivated her to get sober but she is the reason she stays sober: 'I got sober at first for my family because I had gotten to a point where I felt so sick about myself, I was depressed I didn't like myself but I love my family.

'I got sober for my family, but today I'm sober for me, and I'm sober for you. Drugs and alcohol are powerful, but we are more powerful.'

Troubled teen star: While Eliza managed to hide her issues from the outside world during the time she was a huge teen movie and television actress (pictured 1999 with Seth Green and Alyson Hannigan), she admitted she struggled with addiction until getting sober in 2008

The actress admitted that she almost relapsed when her father Phillip was dying of cancer three years ago because one of his pills fell on the ground but she knew sobriety was too important.

Now that she is sober, Eliza has gone back to college at the age of 36 and says she can still dance on tables, connect with people and loves her life drug free.

The event was sponsored by the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation in New Hampshire and also featured a speech from surprise presenter U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Onwards and upwards: Now that she is sober, Eliza (picyured last yeae) has gone back to college at the age of 36 and says she can still dance on tables, connect with people and loves her life drug free