Sam Worthington has been sober for eight years after his wife warned she would leave him if he didn't get sober.
Sam Worthington quit drinking after his wife gave him an ultimatum.
The 'Avatar: The Way of Water' actor used to start drinking in the morning and would regularly down five glasses of champagne before a flight, but he couldn't "see" he had a problem and thought his habits were "normal".
He said: “I couldn’t see it. I thought it was normal. I didn’t like who I was. Drinking helped me get through the day.
“Nine out of 10 people couldn’t tell. They could probably smell it on me, but when they looked at me, they couldn’t tell. I was still doing my job — I just don’t think I was doing it very well.”
The 46-year-old actor's spouse Lara eventually pulled him "back from the brink" with an ultimatum "said with love, not anger or disappointment".
He recalled her telling him: “You can do what you want, but I don’t need to be around this."
Sam - who has now been sober for eight years - admitted he was an "emotional drunk".
Asked if boozing made him "mean", he told the new issue of Variety magazine: “I was an emotional drunk.
"I got more emotional and erratic the longer I drank. I don’t think I was mean, exactly, but I could be belligerent, petulant.”
The 'Under the Banner of Heaven' star suggested part of the reason why he hit the bottle was cultural.
He said: “In Australia it’s ingrained in the society. We don’t necessarily talk about AA and things like that. You don’t recognize it’s an illness, and you don’t understand that some people are just wired differently.”
And Sam admitted he turned to alcohol to cope with the "anxiety" of fame.
He said: "I’d go haywire over someone asking me for a photograph or taking a photograph of me. If someone approached me, my anxiety would go through the roof.”
Read the full interview with Sam at https://variety.com/2022/film/features/sam-worthington-avatar-sobriety-the-way-of-water-1235459542/.
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
Based on an astounding true story, this battlefield drama mixes warm emotion with intense action...
Mackenzie Phillips set out for the family vacation of a lifetime with three of his...
In 1919 Desmond Doss was born, he lived a quiet life and always wanted to...
With visually stunning imagery and a solid A-list cast, this film just about transcends its...
When two different climbing parties set out on the expedition of their lives, they knew...
Some people get a once in a lifetime chance to make history. Some people, unfortunately...
Bizarrely, this Dutch film tries desperately to wedge true events into the shape of an...
Jennifer Aniston delivers an Oscar-calibre performance in this rather over-worked drama, which tries to emphasise...
Alfred Henry "Freddy" Heineken (Anthony Hopkins), head of the Heineken International brewing company, was worth...
Claire Bennett is struggling to get through day-to-day life despite her buffet of pills, one-on-one...
Arnold Schwarzenegger gets one of his most complex roles yet in this messy, violent thriller,...
John 'Breacher' Wharton is the head of a DEA Special Operations Team, well-known by authorities...