Tom Holland Opened Up About the "Eye-Opening Moment" That Made Him Commit to Sobriety
"My problem was that I would have one drink and be fine, and then I would just go too far," the actor said of his past alcohol use.
After more than two years of sobriety, Tom Holland is opening up about his decision to stop drinking.
While promoting his new line of non-alcoholic beers, Bero, in a new interview with Men's Health, the Spider-Man actor opened up about his own decision to ditch alcohol back in January 2022.
Initially, Holland had only planned to take a one-month break from drinking, but once he stopped, he saw what a big part of his life social drinking had become.
“Every Friday after work was a write-off: Let’s get drunk and have a good time. I didn’t have bad experiences, but I would drink enough so that I would ruin my next day,” he explained, apparently adding that the aftereffects of his weekend drinking were intense enough that he talked to his doctor about his liver health.
According to the Men's Health profile, Holland "found his first month of sobriety unsettlingly difficult," and shared that one particular night out with his brother made him decide to commit to a longer stretch of sobriety than he'd initially planned. Although Holland had driven himself and his brother for the poker night they were attending, he felt like he needed a drink to enjoy himself and found himself asking his brother if he would be willing to drive them home so that he could drink—a move that surprised his brother and served as something of a wakeup call for Holland.
“It was a bit of an eye-opening moment for me and for him,” he explained. “It’s really helpful when the people closest to you start going, ‘Are you sure?’”
After that, Holland added a second month to his personal sobriety pledge—and kept adding a month at a time until he reached the six-month mark, when he considered ending his sober streak at his 26th-birthday party, but realized that he wasn't actually interested in drinking again and decided to maintain sober living as a lifestyle.
Stay In The Know
Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.
“I’m quite strong-willed. When I decide to do something, I’m really gonna do it,” he said of his process for going sober. “I leaned on close ones a lot: family, friends, old colleagues, new colleagues, people that reached out that I didn’t know who also were sober.”
The actor recalled one moment when leaning on outside support was particularly helpful. It came early on in his sobriety and he was craving a drink after a difficult week when his lawyer visited him in his hotel with some sober wisdom that really clicked.
“He gave me a really poignant piece of advice that helped me get through everything, which was: You’ll never wake up the morning after a night out and wish you had a drink," Holland said. "That piece of advice really rang true to me, because my problem was that I would have one drink and be fine, and then I would just go too far.”
Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
Do You Like Scary Movies? Because There Are A Lot of Exciting Horror Films to Look Forward to in 2025
Here are the buzzy A24 projects and sequels, including 'M3GAN 2.0,' that you need to see.
By Sadie Bell Published
-
Justin Baldoni Claims Ryan Reynolds "Aggressively Berated" Him in a Meeting About Blake Lively
Baldoni's lawyers describe the alleged incident as an "inappropriate and humiliating berating" of the actor "delivered, perhaps intentionally, as other celebrity friends were coming in and out of their penthouse."
By Kayleigh Roberts Published
-
Sabrina Carpenter Was Worried Releasing "Espresso" as a Summer Song Might Be a Mistake
"I had literally no idea that anyone would like it, but I liked it, and that was kind of all that mattered to me in that moment, and something I try to remember over and over again," she says of releasing the song when she did in spite of her worries.
By Kayleigh Roberts Published
-
Tom Holland Revealed the Big Relationship Step He and Zendaya Plan to Take Next Christmas
The only reason it didn't happen this year, he says, is "since we’re both actors, we’re terrible at organizing things."
By Kayleigh Roberts Published
-
Tom Holland Calls Dating Zendaya "The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me"
And now we weep collectively.
By Iris Goldsztajn Published
-
Zendaya Says Working With Tom Holland Is "Second Nature"
Ughhh, these two!!!
By Iris Goldsztajn Published
-
Zendaya Admits She Wouldn't Take Tom Holland to a Dance Class Because He's "Too Good"
Very relatable stuff.
By Iris Goldsztajn Published
-
Three Years In, Zendaya and Tom Holland Are “Rock Solid” and the “Real Deal”
There’s a key reason for their love story’s success.
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
Zendaya and Tom Holland Have Discussed Marriage, Source Claims
But right now they're busy with work.
By Iris Goldsztajn Published
-
Here’s How to Get Out of a Speeding Ticket, According to Zendaya and Tom Holland
Unfortunately, the rest of us might not be able to use this tactic.
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
Zendaya Praises Boyfriend Tom Holland for Handling Fame at a Young Age “Beautifully”
“I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him.”
By Rachel Burchfield Published