Tom Holland has opened up about his journey with sobriety, admitting that he was obsessed over having a drink while trying to do Dry January, which spurred him into quitting alcohol for good.
The Spider-Man star was chatting on Jay Shetty’s podcast when he spoke about the situation, explaining: "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, and I was drinking a lot.
"I decided to just give up for January, I wanted to do just dry January, and all I think about was taking a drink. It was all I could think about. I was waking up thinking about it, I was checking the clock, 'When’s it 12?' And it just really scared me. I was like, 'Wow, maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing,' so I sort of decided to just punish myself and say I'll do February as well, I'll do two months off."
© Photo: Getty ImagesHe continued that he really struggled with the challenge and found things like socialising and going out for dinner much more difficult, adding: "I started to really worry that I had an alcohol problem." The actor then made the decision to keep going until his birthday to prove that he didn’t have an issue.
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He said: "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. By the time I got to June 1, I was the happiest I had ever been in my life… Things that would go wrong on set that would normally set me off, I could take in my stride… I felt healthier, I felt fitter and I just sort of said to myself, why am I enslaved to this drink? Why am I so obsessed with the idea of having this drink?"
© Getty ImagesThe actor, who is currently in a relationship with Zendaya, added: "If I could encourage someone to drink less, that would be great. But I don’t want to start getting into the world of, 'You need to stop drinking.' Because it’s not for me to say."
Tom, 27, recently confirmed that he would be taking a break from acting after his role in The Crowded Room, telling Extra: "I really enjoyed it, but then again, the show did break me. There did come a time where I was sort of like, 'I need to have a break'."
© Photo: Getty ImagesHe also spoke to Entertainment Weekly about how he was unable to lose the character when he was no longer playing him, explaining: "I was seeing myself in him, but in my personal life," he explained. "I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking, like, 'I'm going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character.' And, obviously, we were mid-shooting, so I decided not to… It was unlike anything I've ever experienced before."
