'Happiest I've ever been': Tom Holland reflects on sobriety journey, benefits
MANILA, Philippines — British actor Tom Holland had opened up further about his sobriety journey having given up on alcohol since January last year.
The 27-year-old actor appeared on a recent episode of the "On Purpose with Jay Shetty" podcast where he called giving up drinking "the best thing he's ever done."
Holland admitted that like most Brits, he drank a lot during the Christmas 2021 and that his ability to drink a lot comes from his mother Nicola.
As such, the "Spider-Man" actor decided to give up drinking at the turn of 2022, but the early days proved to be a problem for him.
"All I could think about was having a drink. That’s all I could think about," Holland shared. "I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock, when’s it 12 p.m.?"
He decided to continue on to February to prove to himself he didn't have a drinking problem, but felt the peer pressure of England's drinking culture — so much that Holland even gave up watching rugby as not to be influenced to get drunk again.
Related: 'I am a recovering alcoholic': Anthony Hopkins celebrates 47 years of sobriety
"Two months go by and I was still really struggling. I felt like I couldn't be social," Holland continued. "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."
After celebrating his birthday in June, Holland entered his sixth month sober and was "the happiest he's ever been in his life." He has now been sober for well over a year.
Holland listed down some of the benefits sobriety brought him like better sleep and mental clarity, ability to handle problems better, and feeling healthier and fitter.
His sobriety journey even inspired Nicola to quit drinking as well, "She's loving it, and it's been amazing... I can't believe the difference that I feel from not drinking. Yeah, I feel amazing."
"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," Holland ended.
Holland is currently on a year-long acting hiatus having been recently seen in the AppleTV+ series "The Crowded Room" and the short film "Last Call" written and directed by his younger brother Harry.
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