Alisan Porter wowed coaches Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams with her blind audition on "The Voice" this season. From then on, she was the frontrunner of the competition, until she was ultimately crowned the winner alongside her coach Aguilera this week. But what made Porter's story all the more emotional was that she once had a career in Hollywood as a child star. The now 34-year-old starred as the titular character in 1991's "Curly Sue" before quitting show business to live a "normal" life. After struggling with addiction, she got sober in 2007, fell in love, and became a wife and a mom of two. She finally found the time to pursue a singing career last year, and decided to go out and audition for "The Voice" after a friend of hers passed her number on to a casting director.
"I kind of retired in my mind and was like, 'OK, I'll just make music for myself and play gigs here and there.' It was weird coming in as someone who's been in the business before because I can understand how people could be like, 'Oh, she already had her chance.' You know, what the haters say ... I get it, haters, I get it. At the same time, I had been trying to be a singer for a decade, so for me it was like, if I get this one shot, I'm going to take it," she told HuffPost on AOL Build of her decision to go on the reality singing competition show.
Before she knew it, Porter was several rounds into the audition process and was "totally freaked out," but in the end, it was clearly worth it.
"I'm glad that I did [it]," she said. "I walked through a lot of fears and ... I won!"
Now, Porter hopes to produce a wonderful album that not only her fans will enjoy, but that she can be proud of.
"I want to focus on writing songs and kind of put the puzzle together," she said. "I don't want to put myself in any kind of slot. I've waited too long for this and the music will speak for itself and sit where it's supposed to sit."
Watch our full interview with Alisan below.
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