In the early 1990s, Amy Locane was headed for stardom. The actress landed the role of Allison Vernon-William alongside Johnny Depp in the musical comedy, Cry-Baby and in 1992 she was casted as Sandy Harling in the first season of the soap opera Melrose Place.
Prior to her big Hollywood debut, the New Jersey-born actress built up experience by starring in over 60 commercials and as a regular on the 1984 sitcom Spencer.
Amy starred in a few more TV and movie roles throughout the 90s and early 2000s, but in 2006 she announced that she had gotten engaged and retired from acting in Hollywood blockbusters.
She tied the knot with Mark Bovenizer two years later and in that time she occasionally took on roles in local community theater, but it wasn't long after that the life she built began to crumble.
In 2010, Amy was driving drunk near her home in Hopewell, New Jersey when she collided with another car, killed a 60-year-old woman named Helene Seaman and severely injuring her husband, Fred.
Amy was sentenced to three years in prison for vehicular homicide and assault after authorities found her blood contained three times the legal alcohol limit. She was released in June 2015 after serving two years and four months.
Despite the victim's family appeal to have Amy serve more time, earlier this year a judge refused to change her sentence taking into consideration that Amy has a young daughter with a chronic illness. Although she's enjoying her newfound freedom, her actions that fateful night continue to haunt her.
Amy sat down for her first major interview since leaving jail and she opens up about how her life has changed forever and what she's doing to stop others from making the same mistake.
Click on the next page to find out what she has to say.
Amy has largely maintained anonymity since her release from prison. The 45-year-old actress has made the decision to open up about her story so others wouldn't make the same choices she made.
"First of all, I want to stay sober," said Amy. "I want to help people not make the same mistake I made. I want to warn the youth about the dangers of drinking and driving. Everybody thinks it's not going to happen to them, including myself."
She describes prison as "dehumanizing" and "almost like witnessing your own death."
"My girls would send me Mother's Day cards and the guards wouldn't let me keep them because they were too large or they contained glitter. Every time I left a visit with my girls, I had to endure a strip search in which I had to strip, squat and cough," Amy explained.
She added: "People write to you initially and then they disappear. Then, sometimes you hear from absolute strangers and they tell you to stay strong."
In addition to serving jail time, Amy had to enrol in Alcoholic Anonymous to help with her addiction.
"I'm not minimizing what I did," she said. "That's why I talk to high schoolers. It's not as simple as don't drink and drive."
"Some of the college kids I speak to are like, "˜It's not fair because someone died,'" Amy told EW. "I get that. It was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. I understand how people would feel animosity toward me."
Five months after her release, Amy was served with divorce papers by her husband and the pair are still in the process, but she's not letting that hinder her progress.
"I had worked so hard since 2010 on my sobriety, on adjusting to life in prison, on being released from prison, on acclimating to my children's lives, and to parole that having to go back would seriously interrupt, if not destroy, any progress I had made in becoming human again," Amy said.
Amy reiterates that she isn't speaking out for fame, but she's doing it for all the people she can help.
"I'm not looking for this as a way to get back into the business," she said. "We are talking about something that's incredibly sad and tragic. I think it would be sleazy to stage some sort of comeback."
The former actress currently lives in Hopewell and works in a home-and-garden store in the area. She still attends weekly AA meetings and is fighting for shared custody of her children.
Do you think Amy Locane deserved a longer sentence? Let us know in the comments below.
[H/T: People.com]