Over the course of 15 years, Denzel Washington was ingesting as much as two bottles of wine a day, a behavior that “did a lot of damage” to his physique.
In a brand new interview with Esquire, the “Gladiator ll” star, 69, opened up about his previous alcohol abuse and why he selected to search out sobriety almost ten years in the past.
“Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden,” Washington mentioned. “And part of it was, we built this big house in 1999 with a 10,000-bottle wine cellar, and I learned to drink the best. So, I’m going to drink my ’61s and my ’82s and whatever we had. Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that’s what was left.
Denzel Washington recently opened up about his past alcohol abuse. (Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
“After which, later in these years, I’d name Gil Turner’s Superb Wines & Spirits on Sundown Boulevard and say, ‘Send me two bottles, the best of this or that.’ And my spouse’s saying, ‘Why do you keep ordering just two?’ I mentioned, ‘Because if I order more, I’ll drink extra.’ So, I saved it to 2 bottles, and I’d drink them each over the course of the day.”
Though Washington said he “by no means drank” while he was working or prepping for a film, he would immediately go back to it after wrapping a project.
“I’m certain at first it was straightforward as a result of I used to be youthful,” said Washington, who is turning 70 next month. “Two months off and let’s go. However ingesting was a 15-year sample. And, reality be informed, it didn’t begin in ’99. It began earlier.”
The actor mentioned his substance abuse started at an early age, whereas hanging together with his childhood good friend, Frank.
“To be trustworthy, that’s the place it began. I by no means received strung out on heroin,” he admitted. “By no means received strung out on coke. By no means received strung out on arduous medicine. I shot dope identical to they shot dope, however I by no means received strung out. And I by no means received strung out on liquor.”
Washington said he was drinking up to two bottles of wine a day off and on for 15 years. (Tiziana Fabi )
Years later, the “Equalizer” star said he had “this concept” of wine tastings that led to his two-bottle-a-day habit.
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“I had this excellent thought of wine tastings and all that, which is what it was at first. And that’s a really refined factor,” he said. “I imply, I drank the very best. I drank the very best. And fifteen years into it, ‘Send me two bottle heads, and make it good stuff, but just two.’ And I’d drink them each over the course of the day.”
Washington recalled the time interval when he filmed “Flight,” a film in which he played an alcoholic airline pilot.
“I wasn’t ingesting once we filmed ‘Flight,’ I do know that, however I’m certain I did as quickly as I completed,” he said. “That was getting towards the top of the ingesting. However I knew quite a bit about waking up and searching round, not understanding what occurred. … I do know throughout ‘Flight’ I used to be occupied with those that had been by means of habit, and I wished good to return out of that. It wasn’t prefer it was therapeutic. Really, perhaps it was therapeutic. It needed to have been.”
The legendary actor has been sober nearly a decade. (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
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Though the Academy Award-winning actor has been sober for nearly a decade, he detailed how the habit affected him physically.
“I’ve carried out loads of injury to the physique. We’ll see. I’ve been clear … ten years this December,” he said. “I finished at 60, and I haven’t had a thimble’s price since. Issues are opening up for me now — like being 70. It’s actual. And it’s OK. That is the final chapter. If I get one other 30, what do I wish to do? My mom made it to 97.”
Pedro Pascal looks on as Denzel Washington meets King Charles III at the Royal Film Performance and Global Premiere of “Gladiator II” in Leicester Square Nov. 13, 2024, in London. (Eddie Mulholland/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Washington said he’s never felt better.
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“I’m doing the very best I can. And never solely alcohol — overlook all that. Energy. About two years in the past, my good good friend, my little brother, Lenny Kravitz, mentioned, ‘D, I wanna hook you up with a trainer. And he did, and he’s one other man of God.
“I started with him February of last year. He makes the meals for me, and we’re training, and I’m now 190-something pounds on my way to 185. I was looking at pictures of myself and [wife] Pauletta at the Academy Awards for ’Macbeth,’ and I’m just looking fat with this dyed hair. And I said, ‘Those days are over, man.’ I feel like I’m getting strong. Strong is important.”
