In her new memoir geared towards teens and young adults, TV actress and activist Diane Guerrero recounts how her 14-year-old life was turned upside down after getting home one day and finding her parents gone — they had been detained and deported.

In "My Family Divided," Guerrero writes candidly about the toll the traumatic experience had on her mental health. Visiting her parents in jail, working multiple jobs to pay off debt and shouldering the responsibility of being her parents’ only hope for returning to America drove Guerrero to depression, self-harm and a suicide attempt.

At a recent book reading and signing in New York City, Guerrero told a packed room — many had waited hours in line on a rain-soaked afternoon to attend the event — that they were not alone if they were going through immigration-related issues in their own families.

Under the rose glow of hanging globe lights, Guerrero spoke for an hour from a brown leather armchair, captivating an audience ranging from elderly white men to Latina mothers to middle schoolers.

The cover of Diane Guerrero's new book, "My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope." Henry Holt + Company

“I would say not to lose hope, because I know that this is a very difficult fight we’re in,” Guerrero said, her brown eyes blurring with tears. “And I never really understood what a lifelong fight meant until now.”

The "Orange is the New Black" and "Jane the Virgin" star returned from a shopping trip to get sneakers to find her family home lifeless, with uncooked rice on the stove and a half empty coffee cup. Without warning, immigration officers had arrested her mother and father, who had come to the U.S. fleeing the violence in a rural part of Colombia and had overstayed their visas, building a life in the U.S.

After her parents were deported, Guerrero says the authorities never followed up about what happened to her. Guerrero, who was born in the U.S. and was an American citizen, was alone, eventually relying on family friends who helped her forge ahead.

Her newly published book is a result of her first memoir, “In the Country We Love,” which entered bookstores in 2016. After community members told her they were using her book to teach students about immigration, Guerrero was inspired to publish “My Family Divided,” adapted for a middle school audience.

“As a person who never saw herself as an academic ... to see that my book and my story was helping young kids just meant the world to me,” Guerrero said. “I finally saw my book for what it was. It was to help kids.”

Guerrero’s passion for performance began early. But personal storytelling goes against the grain for her. She kept her family trauma quiet as a teenager. Even today, it’s sometimes tough to shed her predilection towards privacy.

“Sometimes I want to bury myself in bed, and I don’t want anyone to know anything about me, and I don’t want anyone to judge me ... to see my photos as a kid or look at my mother’s hair in the 80s…” Guerrero said, referencing the black-and-white family photographs sprinkled throughout the book. “But every day it proves to be that this decision was worth it, and I’m happy that I made it.”