Mayra Dias Gomes has revealed how she has turned her life around following years of drug and alcohol abuse.
The Brazilian model, who has featured on front covers of huge magazines such as Playboy and FHM, candidly opened up to Mirror Online about her previous battles with addiction.
She said her habits got so bad during the Covid lockdown that she felt like she was "going to die" due to the panic attacks that they brought on.
And she revealed that her substance use began from a very young age following the tragic death of her father aged 11.
Mayra, now 35, has forged a successful career as a best-selling author, professional wrestler and glamour model.
However, she admits her success story has been far from smooth sailing and says she almost threw it all away. Now, she wants to warn those who glamorise drugs like she used to to switch on and realise the truth.
The blonde beauty was born into a showbiz family with a father who was one of the most prolific writers of television and movies scripts in Brazil and a mother who was an actress.
But she admitted she was quickly forced to grow up following the death of her dad in a car accident. She shockingly revealed how she found out the tragic news of his passing after reading an online news article and seeing images from the fatal scene.
"That was a very impactful moment for me as an 11 year old," she said. "And I became very, very rebellious.
"So by the time I was 16 years old, I didn't want to be in school anymore. I didn't feel like I fitted in in school and I was going through several problems with drug use, depression, and lots of things that followed my father's passing."
Despite her inner issues, Mayra was able to fulfil many career goals she set herself, including writing a best-selling book by the age of 19. She then suddenly decided to switch to wrestling at the age of 30.
But she admits at one point, despite her clear success on the outside, she had become dependent on drugs to see her through, and that led to health issues.
"I also was suffering from panic attacks for lots of years," she revealed. "And so in a way I feel like I would medicate my panic attacks with alcohol. And I was just making those panic attacks worse."
Things then got dramatically worse when lockdown struck and removed any "feel good factors" she had to focus on such as wrestling and the gym, making her "hit rock bottom".
"I felt like I had lost all those resources and I was at home by myself and my depression and my panic hit really hard. I was drinking every single day. And I was drinking tequila every single day and I was starting really early in the morning.
Mayra - whose wrestling persona in the NWA is May Valentine - told how her panic attacks got "completely out of control" as her drinking increased.
"They got out of control to a point where I thought every night that it was going to die because when you're having a panic attack and you're in that mindset and you feel like you're going to die, you either feel like you're going to die or you want to die.
"And I just thought one of these nights I might kill myself because it's just unbearable. It was this feeling of being completely alone. And not knowing when you're going to have that human connection again."
She revealed doctors insisted she got sober if she wanted to be treated and to help stop her panic attacks - an ultimatum she fully appreciates looking back.
"As soon as I got sober my potential was maximised so much and the things that I was able to do just maximised so much," she said.
"I do feel that for so many years I was probably stuck in the same place because I was just in a cycle of having panic attacks and drinking. So absolutely [sobriety saved her career]."
Mayra understands fully that her success story could have easily had a different path if she didn't change her ways and she is adamant that cutting out the drugs and alcohol as well as her hard work that followed has allowed her to be "deserving of the position that I have now".
In a brutally honest message to those who may be in a similar rut that she once found herself in, she ended: "I can understand why people think drugs can be cool, but the bottom line is drugs will affect your mental health in a way that there will come a point when you will have to do something about it.
"Drug glamorisation is something of the past. And if you're struggling with addiction, there is nothing wrong with that.
"It's a disease and I think it's very important to be honest with yourself, and with people around you. It might be really difficult to admit to yourself that you have an addiction. [Sobriety is] a very difficult path, but it's a path of a lot of reward.
"The longer you're sober, the more amazing things will happen in your life and it's in every aspect of your life and in your personal life and your relationships with other people, in your relationship with yourself, and your professional career."
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