Amber Valletta Opens Up About Her Past Drug & Alcohol Addiction

Amber Valletta is on the cover of the latest issue of Porter Magazine, out now.

Here’s what the 45-year-old model and actress had to say…

On her past drug and alcohol addiction and being proud of being sober for the past 25 years: “I didn’t have a problem when I was out using, if you saw me high or drunk. So why would I be ashamed of being clean and saying, ‘I have a disease that I can’t control’? Only by being sober do I have any chance of survival. Left to my own devices, I guarantee you no matter how much I love life, my family, if I take a drink or any of my drugs of choice, I’ll be dead. I’ll ruin everything.”

On climate change and the future of our planet: “It makes me want to cry. I’ll be dead, but my great-grandkids? To live in a world where they wouldn’t experience this. Where they couldn’t see elephants or a whale. The ocean could be disgusting and full of plastic; you can’t eat fish, go to a beach, see coral; you can’t have the opportunity to be doctors or scientists or creators. We take it for granted. It’s overwhelmingly ridiculous.”

On seeing a stark change within the fashion industry between the ’90s and now: “You would never have taken your Polaroid camera and turned it around on yourself. You would never have talked about how you were flying around in a private jet. That’s why when Linda [Evangelista] made that one statement [“I never get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day”], it was huge. People talk like that all the time on Instagram now. People who don’t even do anything!”

For more from Amber, head to net-a-porter.com.