Alisan Porter proved herself to be a huge acting talent from a young age–the Curly Sue actress carried a major motion picture with her chops and had a career in television as well–but these days she says her heart just wasn’t in it. Her true passion has always been music, as she revealed to the judges on The Voice recently, but she was a little nervous about doing anything in show business again after so many years away.

The star–who wowed the judges with a powerful rendition of “Blue Bayou”–revealed that she has battled alcoholism in the past and has been sober for seven years. Now, she’s married with two children, and she’s been a stay-at-home mom for a while now. All that added up to trepidation about whether or not she could handle a career in the spotlight.

“I was nervous about putting myself back into something so public and going back into a career, especially since I have kids now and I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for three and a half years. I’ve just really enjoyed the process and it’s fueled the fire again within me,” Alisan said.

Porter says she’s received a huge amount of support since appearing on the show, and she explained recently why she chose Christina Aguilera as her coach after all four judges begged her to be on their team.

“I was Pharrell Williams or Christina. The second I saw Christina turn and the second we connected, I just knew right away that I had to choose her,” Alisan said.

Despite being away from Hollywood for a while, Alisan Porter has quite a bit of experience onstage; the actress says she did Broadway shows at one time and has been in bands, and she even released her own records. But none of it felt right, which led her to The Voice. The experience was so emotional for her, she says, but she had to try hard not to let it get to her during her audition.

“You cannot sing and cry. It’s one thing you can’t do, like if you sneeze you have to close your eyes.”