Denzel Washington did “a lot of damage” to his body when he used to drink two bottles of fine wine a day.
Denzel Washington has opened up about his drinking problem
The 69-year-old ‘Training Day’ star spent years battling a drinking problem but he’s been sober for 10 years and he’s revealed his issues with alcohol started when he got a taste for pricey vintages after adding a wine cellar to the family home.
He told Esquire magazine: “Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden. 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. I mean, I drank the best … I learned to drink the best [when we added the wine cellar]. 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 revealed he used to drink two bottles a day but he would never indulge when he was working.
Denzel explained: “I never drank while I was working or preparing. I would clean up, go back to work – I could do both. However many months of shooting, bang, it’s time to go. Then, boom. Three months of wine, then time to go back to work.”
He went on to conceded his drinking impacted his health but he’s hoping a decade sober will help him live well into old age.
The actor – who turns 70 in December – added: “I’ve done a lot of damage to the body. We’ll see. I’ve been clean.
“Things are opening up for me now – like being 70. It’s real. And it’s OK. This is the last chapter – if I get another thirty, what do I want to do? My mother made it to ninety-seven. I’m doing the best I can.”