Former Growing Pains actor Kirk Cameron said he decided to embrace Christianity when he was 17 after being an atheist.

During an interview with PragerU, Cameron explained how he began acting in Hollywood at the age of 14 and quickly became inducted into the society of Hollywood.

“When I was a kid, I would have called myself an atheist until I was about 17 years old,” Cameron said.

The actor said he began to wonder at a young age if there was a heaven or hell and figured that “if there was a heaven, I wouldn’t be going there because of my attitude and my self-centered, conceded, ‘I’m all that, I’m the GOAT,’ celebrity Mike Seaver guy.”

Cameron said that as he began to pray, he felt a significant change in his life. He added that a note written by his daughter prompted him to reexamine his rise to fame in Hollywood.

“It’s the same boiling water that softens potatoes that hardens eggs. It just depends on what you’re made of,” the note said.

Cameron explained what the note meant to him, saying, “So the same difficult challenges and influences of Hollywood that turn some people sour and make them narcissistic and bitter and joyless and afraid to not fit in is the same pressure that actually softened my heart and caused me to embrace gratitude and be thankful for the life that I have and want to use a platform and this Hollywood industry to advance the good.”

“I really think it’s what you’re made of,” he added. “And if you don’t know what you’re made of, don’t look to your environment or your industry or other people to give you an identity. There was somebody who made you — ask him. And you can be sure that the ending of the story is gonna be fantastic.”