Desperate Housewives Alum Reveals Past Addiction Struggle: Drugs "Will Steal Your Life"

Hollywood is still mourning the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died Sunday of an apparent drug overdose. But one famous face is trying to use the tragic news to help others.

"I've considered what's at stake, for myself, by sharing this — but i find myself without regard for that," Desperate Housewives alum Shawn Pyfrom wrote in a blog post. "I won't allow my selfish needs to get in the way of potentially reaching another human being's life."

Remember celebrities we lost last year

Pyfrom, who played the troublemaking eldest son of Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) throughout the show's eight-year run, called himself an alcoholic and a drug addict in the lengthy post. "Anytime a person uses drugs, they are taking the chance that their life will be taken from them. Whether they steal your breath, or rob one last beat from your heart - that is left to fate," the 27-year-old actor wrote. "But they will steal your life from you. Whether you are the occasional user, or someone that uses every day. Every moment spent using drugs (alcohol included) is a moment stolen from your life."

Despite his success on the ABC drama, Pyfrom said drugs prevented him from reaching his full potential. "Some people could argue that drugs have provided some of the most memorable, creative artists this planet has ever experienced. Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain...the list goes on. But drugs also took their lives away," he wrote. "Even I could say, for myself, that if it weren't for the struggles and experience of my addictions; I would not have created the things that I have. I can argue that with all certainty, in fact. But I would have much rather lived the moments that I lost; and seen what would have come, creatively, as a result of that.

Celebrities who've survived scandal

"I wasted the time of valuable people, who worked so hard to pull my career to a higher place, by allowing my addictions to tug me out of their grip."

Pyfrom revealed that he has been sober for five months — the longest period of time he says he has been clean since he began using. "My thoughts are clear. my body is energized. and the creativity now flows out of me, easier than it ever had when I was using. I wake up looking forward to my days, rather than looking for a way to get through them. I feel the life inside of me now. the life that I deprived myself of for so long," he wrote. "I can say with all honesty, that I have no desire to ever use again. but it took a long time, and a lot of struggle, to finally reach that place. We sometimes have to learn through our own experiences - as I had to with mine."

Since his time on Desperate Housewives, Pyfrom has appeared on Rizzoli & Isles and the TV movie Killing Lincoln. What do you think of his post?