Kate DeAraugo has marked five years of sobriety. 

The Australian Idol 2005 winner, 37, found herself at rock bottom in 2017 after pleading guilty to possessing ice, drug driving and weapons offences. 

Avoiding conviction, the star was placed on a community corrections order and has since made every effort to rehabilitate herself and transform her life. 

‘I’m five years clean and sober,’ she told Shannon Noll’s Idol Talking podcast this week. 

‘Addiction is a topic that should be talked about really openly and I think still in this country we are not very educated about it.’ 

Australian Idol 2005 winner Kate DeAraugo, 37, has marked five years sober, telling Shannon Noll’s Idol Talking podcast she’s ‘grateful’ to have beaten her demons. (Pictured with partner Shannon Riseley) 

Kate said that while she’s made plenty of mistakes over the years, she now takes responsibility for her past. 

‘My life went on a bit of a left field journey and I did some things and went some places that I never wanted to, or did not intend to, but it is just where life led me.’

‘Coming back from that, having to really turn around and stop and look at yourself and look at your life and take responsibility for your life decisions is probably the hardest and most terrifying thing I have ever done,’ she added. 

The troubled singer suffered a fall from grace in 2017 after pleading guilty to possessing crystal meth, but has since turned over a new leaf. (Pictured outside Bendigo Magistrates Court in October 2017, following her arrest) 

‘My life went on a bit of a left field journey and I did some things and went some places that I never wanted to, or did not intend to, but it is just where life led me,’ Kate said. (Pictured on Australian Idol in 2005) 

Kate went on to say she felt very grateful to have come back from the edge.  

‘A lot of people don’t get to come back from where I got to, and I just feel really grateful that I [have].’

Kate said after coming out of her journey has given her a new perspective on life. 

‘I used to care so much about what everybody thought and it would destroy me if I could not keep everybody happy, or [if] every comment on the internet wasn’t positive,’ she said. 

‘I have been able to come out after doing a lot of work and know I am more than those negative comments… I just come from a different place now.’

‘A lot of people don’t get to come back from where I got to and I just feel really grateful that I (have),’ she added. (Pictured at the 2007 Australian Idol grand final)