Tom Holland detailed how he realized he was “definitely addicted to alcohol” when trying to commit to a month of no drinking.
“All I could think about was having a drink. That’s all I could think about,” Holland recalled on an episode of Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast released Sunday.
Holland originally ditched the bottle in January 2022 to participate in the ever-popular “dry January” — a trend in which people commit to no alcohol for a month typically following a booze-heavy holiday season.
However, the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” star, 27, quickly recognized that there was more going on when he stopped drinking.
“I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock … And it just really scared me,” the British actor shared.
“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.”
Holland, who is dating “Euphoria” star Zendaya, said he was “really struggling” after going dry for two months, which led him to fear that he may have “an alcohol problem.”
It was then that the actor decided to go six months without a drink and hold out until his birthday on June 1.
When the date finally approached, however, he recognized a positive shift in his life after half a year without alcohol.
“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. I had so much better mental clarity. I felt healthier, I felt fitter,” Holland recalled.
“And I just sort of said to myself, ‘Why am I so enslaved by this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?'”
Holland revealed that wasn’t his first attempt at quitting alcohol, sharing that he had “gone back to drinking” a handful of times in the past.
But this time, he said, was “different.”
“I really worked to sort of change my mindset. I really asked myself, ‘Why do you drink? Why are you drinking?’ And a lot of the time my answer would be to feel more comfortable in a social environment.”
Today, Holland is “a year and a half” sober from alcohol, which he’s “over the moon” about.
And while the “Cherry” star has found solace in saying no to booze, he’s not trying to push his lifestyle choice onto others.
“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 is currently on an acting hiatus after filming “The Crowded Room.”
