Tom Holland Says Alcohol Dependence 'Scared' Him to Sobriety
While promoting his Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room back in May, Tom Holland revealed that he had been sober for nearly a year and a half. Now, the 27-year-old is opening up about the details of his sobriety, and how he's since come to the realization that he had an alcohol addiction.
During a sit-down with British podcaster and author Jay Shetty this week, the Uncharted star explained how his journey to sobriety began after one "very, very boozy" Christmas. So, like many people who overindulge during the holidays, Holland decided to try abstaining for Dry January.
However, he soon became alarmed at how much he was thinking about and craving alcohol during his dry stint.
"All I could think about was having a drink. It's all I could think about," Holland explained. "I was waking up thinking about it, I was checking the clock, 'When's it 12?' And it just really scared me. I just was like, ‘Wow, maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing.'"
As such, Holland decided to "punish" himself by extending his alcohol break through February, because if he could do two months off it would prove to himself that he didn't have a problem. But as he soon learned, that wasn't much easier.
"Two months go by, and I was still really struggling," he continued. "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. I started to really worry that maybe I had an alcohol problem.”
Ultimately, Holland decided to go for six months without alcohol, until his birthday on June 1. He recalled thinking that if he could make it six months, then surely it would mean that he was in the clear from alcoholism. But by the time he got to June, he realized that he was the happiest he had ever been in his life.
"I could sleep better. I could handle problems better," he said. "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, like, ‘Why? Why am I enslaved to this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?'"
Looking back, he realized that he couldn't even enjoy himself at work events until he had a few beers. But now, a year and a half in, he understands that it was the best thing he could have done for himself.
"I’m happy to say it—I was definitely addicted to alcohol," he later added. "I’m not shying away from that at all."