The Hollywood Reporter
Tom Holland is opening up about his sobriety journey and looking back on his struggle with alcohol addiction.
In an interview for the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, the actor detailed when he first realized he had a problem with alcohol and admitted to having an addiction. “I’m happy to say it — I was definitely addicted to alcohol. I’m not shying away from that at all,” he told Shetty.
“It’s interesting. I didn’t one day wake up and say, ‘I’m giving up drinking.’ I, just like many Brits, had a very, very boozy December … I’ve always been able to drink a lot.”
He explained that initially he wanted to practice Dry January but found himself consistently thinking about having a drink. “I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock when’s it 12. It really scared me,” he said. “I just was like, ‘Wow, maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing.'”
He then aimed to refrain from drinking the following month as a means to “prove” to himself that he didn’t have a problem. “Two months go by and I was still really struggling,” he admitted. “I felt like I couldn’t be social. I felt like I couldn’t go to the pub and have a lime soda. I couldn’t go out for dinner. I was really really struggling and I started to really worry that maybe I had an alcohol problem.”
He then extended his no-drinking promise to six months until his June birthday. When that time came, Holland shared that he knew he could maintain his sobriety and recalled feeling the “happiest I’ve ever been in my life.
“I could sleep better. I could handle problems better. Things that would go wrong on set that would normally set me off, I could take in my stride. I had such better mental clarity. I felt healthier, I felt fitter and I just sort of said to myself, ‘Why? Why am I enslaved to this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?'”
He recalled thinking he couldn’t “enjoy” himself at events without having a drink. “I just felt so much pressure,” he said. He also explained that he distanced himself from the Rugby community given “so much” of the environment is “about how much can you drink.”
Now a year and a half sober, Holland says drinking doesn’t even “cross my mind” and the decision is the “best thing” he’s done. He also credits finding “amazing replacements” to help, such as a beer with electrolytes. Holland also described his friends as being “super supportive” and never feeling pressure from them to have a drink. His mom has given up drinking, as well.
In his Hollywood Reporter cover story interview, Holland shared that sobriety has helped him have a “clear mind,” and he feels better equipped to handle the curveballs that come his way.
Despite sharing his sobriety journey, Holland told Shetty he doesn’t want to be “that person that’s saying to people, ‘You should get sober.'” But if he “could encourage someone to drink less, then that’s great.
“I don’t want to start getting into the world of, ‘You need to stop drinking,’ because it’s not for me to say. I went on my own little journey. I’m really enjoying it.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
