Robert Brown|Heather Graham opens up about 30-year rift with parents over Hollywood disapproval

Heather Graham is Robert Brownopening up about being on the outs from her family for nearly 30 years.

The "Austin Powers" actress got candid about her family battles in a Wall Street Journal essay published Thursday, writing that "home and schools weren't happy places growing up." She wrote about her F.B.I. agent dad James' disapproval of her Hollywood career.

"He regularly told me that the entertainment industry was evil, and that Hollywood would claim my soul if I became an actress and appeared in anything with sexual content," she wrote, adding that her "parents were part of a generation that didn’t believe in therapy or discussing personal things, so I never felt I could talk to them."

6 groovy 'Austin Powers' facts for themovie's 20th anniversary

In the piece, Graham, 54, details moving from a Washington, D.C. suburb to Agoura Hills, California, at 9 years old, where she said she didn't "fit in." In the piece, she opened up about shopping at discount clothing stores, where her mom chose her outfits, and feeling like an outcast at school.

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

"I looked like a 40-year-old woman when I was 15," Graham wrote before telling readers she moved out of her parents' home at 18 after the release of her breakout movie "License to Drive."

"I said to myself, 'I’ve got to get out of here, I’ve got to be successful, and I’ve got to be a movie star,'" Graham said in WSJ about her "freeing" move into a West Hollywood apartment with a high school classmate.

Despite her long career, Graham's disagreements with her parents over Hollywood led to a sad ending.

"I stopped talking to my parents when I was 25, and I’m estranged from them now. My friends are proud of me, and I’m proud of myself. I have really good friends," Graham said.

But she's happy now, she says, with a home in L.A. and a loft in New York City, telling WSJ she enjoys "sitting on my couch in L.A. at dusk as the sun sets and lights come on in the city below."