Denzel Washington reflects on sobriety and life renewed amidst the new "Gladiator" premiere
Denzel Washington, in an honest interview with Esquire magazine, spoke about his past involving alcohol and drugs. The 69-year-old Oscar winner admitted that he's done "a lot of damage to his body" and has been sober for almost 10 years.
Denzel Washington revealed that his dangerous habits started with wine, saying, "Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden."
The actor explained, "I never got strung out on heroin. Never got strung out on coke. Never got strung out on hard drugs. I shot dope just like they shot dope, but I never got strung out. And I never got strung out on liquor. I had this ideal idea of wine tastings and all that—which is what it was at first. And that’s a very subtle thing."
Thousands of dollars on alcohol
Washington admitted that he owned a huge wine cellar and often spent thousands of dollars on expensive bottles. "I learned to drink the best. So I’m gonna 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," he reminisced, adding that he could drink two bottles a day. In the same conversation, he noted that he never drank while working on set.
A wake-up call
Washington stopped drinking in December 2014, shortly after his 60th birthday. "I've done a lot of damage to the body. We'll see. I've been clean," he admitted, reflecting on the past.
"The final chapter"
In the interview, Denzel Washington also took a moment for a rather somber reflection. The actor turns 70 in a month.
"This is the last chapter—if I get another thirty, what do I want to do?" he said, thoughtfully. His mother lived to be 97, so he believes he has good genes.
Recently, Denzel stirred up some buzz. In one of the interviews, he mentioned that a scene involving a gay kiss, in which he allegedly starred, was cut from the new "Gladiator." Meanwhile, director Ridley Scott denies everything. He said bluntly: "No, that’s b-------."
