Tom Holland has given an update on his sobriety journey after ditching the booze a couple of years ago, admitting he once felt ‘enslaved’ to alcohol.
Best known for his portrayal of Peter Parker in the MCU’s iteration of Spider-Man, the 28-year-old has enjoyed a hugely successful career in Hollywood ever since appearing in 2012 disaster flick The Impossible alongside Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.
The actor has also been open about his difficult relationship with drinking, having revealed that he’d made the decision to go teetotal after taking part in Dry January back in 2022.
Holland made the decision to go sober in 2022 ( Euan Cherry/Getty Images for University of St Andrews)
After more than two years sober, Holland has now revealed the biggest realisation he’d had about drinking during a new podcast interview.
Speaking to athlete Rich Roll on his podcast, the actor explained how not drinking alcohol isn’t about ‘sacrificing the fun’ as well as overcoming the initial difficulty of ditching the booze.
“When I realised that alcohol wasn’t making my insecurity or bringing out my best self – it was actually doing the opposite – I started to feel this freedom of ‘oh I can just be myself and I have nothing to be insecure about’,” he explained.
“That’s when I realised it started to get easier. I started to feel the benefit of not being tied to this drink.”
He added: “The more I let go and relaxed, the more I started to feel the benefits of enjoying the freedom from alcohol.”
Holland then went on to recall how during his early days in Hollywood he was trying to ‘fit into the LA world’ and using alcohol as a way to help him fit in among other celebrities.
The Spider-Man star spoke about his decision to quit drinking ahead of launching his own alcohol-free beer (YouTube/Rich Roll)
“I used to go to these parties and be like ‘I can’t speak to someone until I’m drunk’.
“And now that I’ve kicked that and I’ve found replacements that make me feel like I’m part of the process without sacrificing my morning… my next few days, has been so liberating.”
The actor has also unveiled his new alcohol free beer brand BERO, a premium non-alcoholic beer, having since shared an update about the project on his social media account.
“BERO was born out of a personal journey and I couldn’t be prouder to be launching it today,” he said, adding that it is currently available to purchase in the US and will be coming soon to the UK.
Holland had previously revealed he’d felt like he was ‘enslaved’ to alcohol, telling The Guardian felt like he ‘couldn’t be social’ without having a drink.
“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,” he said.
“I just sort of said to myself, like, ‘Why? Why am I enslaved to this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?'”