Former Disney Channel star Orlando Brown is opening up about a major change in his life, revealing that he has regained custody of his daughter after she spent five years in foster care.

Brown, 38, shared the news during an interview with Revolt on August 12, explaining that his daughter had been placed in foster care for several years before he was able to bring her back into his life.

“I didn’t have my daughter five years ago. She was in foster care,” Brown said, describing the effort he put into changing his circumstances and bringing his child home.

The actor, best known for playing Eddie Thomas on That’s So Raven, said becoming a full-time father has dramatically changed his daily life.

“I’m different now because I have my baby with me now everywhere I go,” he explained. “Traveling is even harder trying to train a little girl. It’s fun at the same time.”

Brown also acknowledged that reconnecting with his daughter has come with challenges. During the five years she was in foster care, she lived with three different families and developed habits and behaviors that he did not immediately recognize.

“For five years she was with a whole different family, three different families,” Brown said. “So she’s picked up traits that I don’t understand.”

Rather than focusing on those differences, Brown said he wants to understand what his daughter experienced and build their relationship with patience and care.

“It’s for me to make sure that I understand her at the end of the day,” he said, adding that she looks very much like him.

Brown did not specify which of his children had been in foster care. He has several children with different former partners, including son Frankie, 6, and daughter Annie, 2, with ex-wife Danielle Anglin. He has also been publicly linked to other children, including sons Maisen and Hunter and daughter Journee.

The custody revelation comes after years of highly publicized personal and legal struggles for the former child star. In 2016, Brown was arrested in California and faced charges including domestic battery, obstruction of justice and drug possession. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor possession charge and entered a no-contest plea to other charges, receiving probation and credit for time already served.

In recent years, Brown has continued to speak publicly about his difficult past and the changes he has made in his life.

Now, his focus appears to be on fatherhood.

After years of separation, Brown says having his daughter back with him has given him a very different perspective on life — and a new responsibility to rebuild the relationship they lost time to.