Demi Moore has come a long way since she first became a star with her career making turn in 1985’s St Elmo’s Fire.

It was early in her career, she says, that she found recovery.

“I was spiralling down a path of real self-destruction and no matter what success I had I just never felt good enough,” Moore said on Saturday.

She was at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, being honoured with the Woman of the Year Award by Los Angeles-based women’s recovery centre and sober living program Peggy Albrecht Friendly House.

“I had absolutely no value for myself and this self-destructive path, it really quickly brought me to a real crisis point,” the Ghost star said.

“It wasn’t clear at the time, maybe it was Divine intervention, but two people who I barely knew stepped up and took a stand for me and presented me with an opportunity, which I guess was more like an ultimatum – unless I was dead, I better show up.”

The young Demi Moore won accolades for St Elmo’s Fire but her biggest critic was herself. Photo: Columbia Pictures

While Moore didn’t go into detail about her demons, she said, “It gave me a chance to redirect the course of my life before I destroyed everything.

“Clearly they saw more in my than I saw in myself and I’m so grateful because without that opportunity, without their belief in me, I wouldn’t be standing her today.”

Moore went on to say, “Life is certainly not a straight line”.

“I think everybody here has dealt with not feeling good enough at some point in their lives.

“I know that in a moment of great struggle for me, I reached out to a wise teacher and I expressed my fear that I wasn’t good enough and she said, ‘You will never be good enough but you can know that value of your worth. Put down the measuring stick.

“So today,” Moore concluded, “I put down the measuring stick and I thank you for this beautiful acknowledgement and the opportunity to know the value of my worth.”

-AAP