Tatum O’Neal speaking out about her arrest for attempting to purchase cocaine and crack cocaine on the Lower East Side of Manhattan late Sunday. “I’m still sober!” the mother of three told the New York Post on Tuesday. The forty-four year old former child star took home an Academy Award for her role in the film Paper Moon at the age of ten, becoming the youngest person to ever win an Oscar. Today, the award-winning actress has an interesting excuse for her embarrassing walk on the wild side; Tatum says the dog made her do it.

She says the recent loss of her sixteen year old pooch has simply been too much for her to bear.

“I lost my Scottish terrier, Lena, [three weeks ago.] That seemed to set me off,” Tatum said. “She got old. She got cancer. She was the fabric of our family. We had to let her go to heaven. My daughter and I had to put her down. It was too horrible for words. “

Ironically, a thankful Tatum credits the NYPD’s Boyz in Blue with saving her from a likely relapse:

“Just when I was about to change that and wreck my life, the cops came and saved me! I was saved by the bell, by the guys in the Seventh Precinct.”