Below Deck Captain Sandy Yawn has opened up about her former addiction battle - and admits she's not ashamed of her past.
The reality TV star is busy promoting her new book Be the Calm or Be the Storm and says she hopes that sharing her own experience will help inspire others.
Sandy, 57, has tried to share her life experience - and what helped her to turn things around in the novel in order to show other people living through similar issues that they can get their lives back on track.
The personality also confessed that how she lived before changing her ways meant she probably "should have been dead" but hitting rock bottom has made her who she is today.
Talking to People she explained: “I should have been dead 10 times over with the lifestyle I led. I have no shame and no fear. Everybody saw me when I was a mess.”
Sandy continued to describe how she felt “bad for what I put my family through,” but admitted that letting them be involved in creating her book had acted as a type of therapy for everyone involved.
The boating expert now hopes that not only will she inspire those that need to help themselves, but also others to help people in need by telling her own story.
She said, “If you invest and actually help someone, the return on investment is tenfold because you are helping them change.”
In her book, Sandy reveals how it took her a long time and a few big wake-up calls to get to the stage where she decided things had to change - and she was only 25 years old at the time.
Sandy joined Below Deck in season two back in 2014 and has been a fan favourite ever since, bringing plenty of drama with her sceptical views or tendency to micromanage everyone.
Fans most recently saw Sandy sack Camille Lamb in dramatic scenes from season 10 after the deck stew failed to adequately perform many of her onboard duties.
After complaints from fellow crew members Sandy was forced to take action and admitted it was nothing personal and purely based on her professional inability to deliver.
She said: "To me, I’m tired of hearing about Camille. She’s the common denominator in all of this. Great girl, great personality, but at the same time, we have to do what’s best for the boat."
Sandy then called Camille into a meeting where she gave her her marching orders as the closing credits rolled leaving fans on a cliffhanger for the fallout in the next episode.
She said: "This is not easy for me. I’m letting you go this morning."
