'Scared' Tom Holland 'punished' himself to curb his alcohol 'obsession'

Tom Holland has endured some personal challenges amid his professional success.

The Spiderman actor sat down with Jay Shetty for the latest episode of his On Purpose to reflect on his struggle with alcoholism which came as a surprise to him at the time he was trying to commit to a month of no drinking.

"All I could think about was having a drink. That’s all I could think about," he recalled as he hopped on the trend to ditch the bottle in January 2022 to celebrate "dry January."

"I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock … And it just really scared me," he continued. "Maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing. So I sort of decided to punish myself and say, I’ll do February as well. I’ll do two months off."

Despite "really struggling" to go without alcohol, Holland stayed resolute in his commitment and even extended his sobriety period until his birthday on June 1.

And though he had previously tried quitting alcohol, the actor eventually found himself going back into the rabbit hole.

Noting that it was "different" this time, Tom expressed: "I really worked to sort of change my mindset. I really asked myself, ‘Why do you drink? Why are you drinking?’ And a lot of the time my answer would be to feel more comfortable in a social environment."

The Uncharted star revealed he began to notice a positive shift in his life following the decision. "I could sleep better. I could handle problems better, things that would go wrong on set, that would normally set me off, I could take in my stride. I had so much better mental clarity. I felt healthier, I felt fitter," Holland recalled.

"And I just sort of said to myself, ‘Why am I so enslaved by this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?'"

Currently, the Marvel actor is "a year and a half" sober from alcohol, and is "over the moon" about it.