Denzel Washington got candid about his years as an alcoholic and how he is thriving after ten years of sobriety in a new interview with Esquire.
The legendary actor revealed that he would drink two bottles of wine daily when he wasn't filming, dipping into his expensive collection to take the edge off.
"Wine is very tricky. It's very slow. It ain't like, boom, all of a sudden," he began.
"And part of it was we built this big house in 1999 with a ten-thousand-bottle wine cellar, and I learned to drink the best. So I'm gonna drink my '61s and my '82s and whatever we had."
"Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that's what was left."
He continued: "And then later in those years, I'd call Gil Turner's Fine Wines & Spirits on Sunset Boulevard and say, 'Send me two bottles, the best of this or that.'"
© Getty"And my wife's saying, 'Why do you keep ordering just two?' I said, 'Because if I order more, I'll drink more.' So I kept it to two bottles, and I would drink them both over the course of the day."
Despite this addiction, Denzel explained that he was always professional and never drank on the job.
"I would clean up, go back to work — I could do both. However many months of shooting, bang, it's time to go. Then, boom. Three months of wine, then time to go back to work."
© GettyThe 69-year-old realized he had a serious problem when he would wake up disoriented and forgetful of the night before. "I knew a lot about waking up and looking around, not knowing what happened," he said. "I've done a lot of damage to the body."
The Gladiator II star opened up to Esquire about the long road to sobriety. "I've been clean. Be ten years this December. I stopped at sixty, and I haven't had a thimble's worth since," he said.
"Things are opening up for me now — like being seventy. It's real. And it's okay. This is the last chapter — if I get another thirty [years], what do I want to do? My mother made it to ninety-seven."
© Samir HusseinDenzel revealed that he leaned on his Hollywood friends during his sobriety journey and gave fans a glimpse into what his sober lifestyle looks like.
"I'm doing the best I can. And not only alcohol — forget all that. Strength," he said candidly.
"About two years ago, my good friend, my little brother, Lenny Kravitz, said, D, I wanna hook you up with a trainer. And he did, and he's another man of God."
© Getty Images"I started with him February of last year. He makes the meals for me and we're training, and I'm now 190-something pounds on my way to 185."
He explained that after looking at old photos of himself in the throes of alcoholism, he came to an important realization.
"Those days are over, man. I feel like I'm getting strong. Strong is important," he finished.
