Chiara De Blasio Opens Up About Substance Abuse, Mental Health Issues (VIDEO)

Chiara de Blasio, the daughter of New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, made a brave confession on Tuesday.

In a video posted to YouTube, she confessed that she has struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues.

"I had depression, like clinical depression, for my entire adolescence. So that's been something I've always dealt with," she said. "It made it easier the more I drank and did drugs to share some common ground with people I wouldn't have. It didn't start out as a huge thing for me, but then it became a huge thing for me."

De Blasio said that when she went to college, things only became worse because she didn't "do the proper mental and emotional work to prepare myself" for the changes.

Eventually she got help and was able to make a recovery.

"Getting sober is always a positive thing and by no means is it easy, it's the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's so worth it," she said.

This is the first time the de Blasio family has been open about Chiara's past issues with drugs and alcohol.

Hear more of her story in the video above.