To commemorate turning 39, former Home and Away actor Jodi Gordon wrote a thoughtful piece recalling her battle with drug addiction.
Before rehab totally changed her life, the actress and model claimed to have fought the illness for “the most part of my life.”
Gordon played Martha MacKenzie on the Channel 7 serial from 2005 to 2010.
In 2022, she finished a 30-day stay in a Sydney recovery centre.
Gordon uploaded the video to her Instagram account along with a description of how she overcome her obstacles and how she is now doing.
She added, “I have struggled with substance abuse for the majority of my life; I entered recovery at the age of 24, but I have never been able to stay stopped.”
“I changed my life in ways I never imagined possible on April 7th, 2022, and I have stayed sober ever since.”
She said that Katie, who “sees and wants things for me I couldn’t even dream of,” is the “bright spot” in her life.
The actress continued, describing her father, who passed away last year, as “proper magic” and praising her mother as a “hero.”
“I’ve always wanted a large family, and Aleeia, my daughter, gave me just that. She is so loving, fierce, patient, smart, and curious—she is unlike any human I have ever met,” she continued.
With her ex-husband, former NRL player Braith Anasta, to whom she was married from 2012 to 2015, Gordon welcomed a daughter in 2014.
I enjoy having her as a teacher and pupil. In her message, she said, “Thank you Braith for the amazing gift of a lifetime.”
“She gives me hope every single day.”
Gordon said, “My friends helped me to create the life I could only dream of today,” adding that they are her family.
Following her trip in treatment, the mother opened up about her struggle with depression in 2022, stating that she was in a “really dark place.”
“At the beginning of those 30 days, there were no smiles,” she said to Stellar.
“It’s not a happy situation to find yourself when several people are deciding for you that you need to check yourself into a rehabilitation centre.
“I gained a lot of knowledge from connecting with people, but I also learned a lot from the tools that help you start to deal with pain and trauma and figure out coping mechanisms.”
“And how to start incorporating those tools into your life after you leave that rehab centre in order to reorganise and create a bigger, better life.”
