Tom Felton addressed his past struggles with alcohol and his mental health in his new book
Tom Felton has opened up about his time in rehab for alcohol abuse after turning to drink while struggling with his mental health.
The Harry Potter star, 35, spoke openly about his past struggles in his new memoir, Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard, via People.
Tom revealed that he started ‘drinking to escape’ in his mid-twenties after ‘craving normality’ following his child stardom and move to Los Angeles, finding he went from not being a big drinker to ‘regularly having a few pints a day before the sun had even gone down, and a shot of whiskey to go with each of them’.
He added: ‘The alcohol, though, wasn’t the problem. It was the symptom. The problem was deeper.’
The situation eventually reached a point where his girlfriend at the time and his manager and agents staged an intervention and urged him to get help.
He revealed that it was a call from his lawyer that hit home the hardest, after he was told that he had witnessed 17 interventions in his career of which 11 people died, and he did not want Tom to be the twelfth.
Adopting his dog, WIllow, helped Tom turn his life around (Picture: Instagram)
Tom checked in to a rehab facility in Malibu following the intervention but fled less than 24 hours later, before later going to a second facility where he ended up getting kicked out after being found in a girl’s room.
His life finally turned around after he adopted his dog Willow and went to rehab on his own terms a few years later.
The actor spoke out to encourage others to seek help when they need it (Picture: Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Studio Tour London)
‘I can honestly say it was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make,’ he admitted. ‘But the very fact that I was able to admit to myself that I needed some help — and I was going to do something about it — was an important moment. I am no longer shy of putting my hands up and saying: I’m not okay.’
Tom added: ‘I am not alone in having these feelings. Just as we all experience physical ill-health at some stage in our lives, so we all experience mental ill-health too. There’s no shame in that. It’s not a sign of weakness.’
He revealed that he had chosen to speak out about his past to encourage others to seek therapy hen they need it, adding: ‘By no means do I want to casualize the idea of therapy — it’s a difficult first step to take — but I do want to do my bit to normalise it.
‘I think we all need it in one shape or another, so why wouldn’t it be normal to talk openly about how we’re feeling?’
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He opened up in his new memoir.