Tom Holland Opened Up About How He Was “Definitely Addicted To Alcohol” Before Going Sober And Revealed He Struggled To Enjoy Himself At “Work Events” Without A “Few Beers”
“All I could think about was having a drink. It was all I could think about. I was waking up thinking about it, I was checking the clock... and it just really scared me.”
Warning: This article contains discussion of alcohol abuse.
Tom Holland is opening up about how his wellbeing has shifted since he quit drinking alcohol.
Back in May, Tom, 27, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he’s been sober for over a year now as he discussed the process of recognizing his “triggers” and reexamining his mental health.
Now, sitting down on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast this week, Tom has opened up further about how he decided to get sober after realizing that he was “definitely addicted to alcohol.”
Clarifying that he gave up drinking about a year and a half ago, Tom noted that it was the hardest thing he ever did.
“I didn’t one day wake up and say, ‘I’m giving up drinking.’ I just — like many Brits — had had a very, very boozy December. Christmas time, I was on vacation, I was drinking a lot,” he said.
“I decided to just give up for January... and all I could think about was having a drink. It was all I could think about,” he shared. “I was waking up thinking about it, I was checking the clock... and it just really scared me.”
“I just was like, Wow, maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing. So I sort of decided to punish myself and say, ‘I’ll do February as well. I’ll do two months off. If I can do two months off, then I can prove to myself that I don’t have a problem,’” he continued, before adding that after those two months were over, he was “still really struggling.”
Going on to discuss how quitting drinking initially impacted his social life, Tom admitted that he felt as though he couldn’t “enjoy” himself at “work events” or social gatherings until he’d had a “few beers.”
“I felt like I couldn’t be social,” he said. “I felt like I couldn’t go to the pub and have a lime soda, [or] go out for dinner. I was really, really struggling, and started to really worry that maybe I had an alcohol problem.”
Tom went on, “I decided that I would wait until my birthday, which is June 1st. I said to myself, ‘If I can do six months without alcohol, then I can prove to myself that I don’t have a problem.’”
And by the time his birthday rolled around, Tom said he was the “happiest” he’d “ever been” in his 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,” he shared, adding that he had “such better mental clarity” and felt “healthier.”
And Tom later noted that the newfound happiness he'd achieved from being sober made him question why he was so “obsessed” with the idea of drinking alcohol in the first place.
“I just sort of said to myself, ‘Why am I enslaved to this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?’” he said, adding that with alcohol, he would previously “drink and drink and drink and drink” until inevitably suffering the next morning with “a terrible headache.”
Looking back, Tom said he can recognize that he was “definitely addicted to alcohol.” He also admitted that he’d previously felt “so much pressure” to drink heavily from his rugby community, which he said he’s now “distanced” himself from in order to help his sobriety.
“I’m happy to say it — I was definitely addicted to alcohol, not shying away from that at all,” Tom said, before adding that he’s now “over the moon” that he decided to stop drinking.
“It’s honestly been the best thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “I’m a year and a half into it now, [and drinking alcohol] doesn’t even cross my mind. I’ve found amazing replacements that I think are fantastic.”
You can listen to Tom’s full appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast here.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.
