Anthony Hopkins looked back at the moment in his life where he realized he was an alcoholic
The Oscar-winning actor, 87, appeared on The New York Times podcast The Interview to discuss his upcoming memoir, ‘We Did OK, Kid’ which will come out on November 4. During the Saturday, October 25 episode of the podcast, he recounted the critical turning point in his life that occurred on December 29, 1975, in the late morning.
“I’m always slightly reluctant to talk about it because I don’t want to sound preachy. But I was drunk and driving my car here in California in a blackout, no clue where I was going, when I realized that I could have killed somebody — or myself, which I didn’t care about—and I realized that I was an alcoholic,” Anthony began.
“I came to my senses and said to an ex-agent of mine at this party in Beverly Hills, ‘I need help.’ It was 11 o’clock precisely — I looked at my watch — and this is the spooky part: Some deep powerful thought or voice spoke to me from inside and said: ‘It’s all over. Now you can start living. And it has all been for a purpose, so don’t forget one moment of it,'” he continued.
The Silence of the Lambs star elaborated on the voice that spoke to him, stating it came from “deep inside.” Anthony also shared that the voice was “vocal, male, reasonable, like a radio voice.”
He went on to say how, from that moment he heard the voice, the craving to drink was gone. Anthony said, “Now I don’t have any theories except divinity or that power that we all possess inside us that creates us from birth, life force, whatever it is. It’s a consciousness, I believe. That’s all I know.”
The Welsh performer reflected on what led to his drinking as he recalled being a “lonely” child and surviving “those bullies”. He indicated that he chose to drink instead of wallowing.
“And that’s why I drank. To nullify that discomfort or whatever it was in me, because it made me feel big. You know, booze is terrific because it makes you instantly feel in a different space,” Anthony explained.
DON’T MISS
Anthony Hopkins compares director to Hitler and alleges he ‘killed an actress’
Kim Kardashian’s new Skims product likened to Hannibal Lecter’s mask
Anthony Hopkins puts on age-defying performance leaving fans speechless
He added that he remembered those drinking sessions with actors “in those days” like Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton, which had him “thinking ‘This is the life. We’re rebels, we’re outsiders, we can celebrate.'” But then another thought percolated in the back of his mind that said, “‘It’ll kill you as well.'”
The father-of-one noted how the actors he worked with “have all gone.” Later in the interview, he expressed that he is thankful to still be here, even when he wonders how.
Las December, Anthony celebrated 49 years of sobriety with an Instagram post. In the Instagram video on December 29, 2024, he spoke about the incident that resulted in the milestone.
“And I was having such fun. But then I realized I was in big, big trouble because I couldn’t remember anything and I was driving a car drunk out of my skull,” he said. “Then on that fatal day, I realized I needed help. So I got it. I phoned up a group of people like me — alcoholic. And that was it. Sober. I’ve had more fun these 49 years than ever.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
