Tom Holland has revealed that he’s been sober for one year in a new interview.
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The actor opened up about his sobriety in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. Speaking about filming his upcoming Apple TV+ crime thriller The Crowded Room, he said the project led to a “bit of a meltdown” in his personal life.
In the show, the Spider-Man actor plays character Danny Sullivan, who is arrested in summer 1979 due to his involvement in a shooting. The show is based on the real crimes of Billy Milligan, who was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder.
“I was seeing myself in [the character], but in my personal life,” Holland told the publication.
“I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking, like, ‘I’m going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character.’ And, obviously, we were mid-shooting, so I decided not to… It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”
Holland said The Crowded Room was “an insight into the power of the human mind” and “the ways in which we can deal with trauma”.
He then went on to say making the series shifted his views on mental health and led to him becoming sober.
“Learning about mental health and the power of it, and speaking to psychiatrists about Danny and Billy’s struggles, has been something that has been so informative to my own life,” he continued, saying he can now “recognise triggers” such as social media “that stress me out”.
“[I hope Crowded Room viewers] have more respect and more sympathy for people who are going through mental health issues…I hope that people will feel educated about the powers of mental health, the struggles, [and] our incredible abilities to survive.”
Also appearing in the series include Amanda Seyfried, Sasha Lane, Will Chase, Lior Raz, Laila Robins, Christopher Abbott and Henry Eikenberry.
The series premieres on June 9 on Apple TV+.
Last August, Holland announced that he will be taking a break from social media to help with his mental health in a new Instagram video.
The actor shared his decision with his followers while highlighting a charity that helps young people cope with mental health issues and his Brothers Trust foundation.
“I have taken a break from social media for my mental health because I find Instagram and Twitter to be overstimulating, to be overwhelming,” Holland explained in the video. “I get caught up, and I spiral when I read things about me online, and, ultimately, it’s very detrimental to my mental state, so I decided to take a step back and delete the app.”
Back in 2021, Holland also suggested he could take a break as an actor as he was having a “midlife crisis at 25”. “I don’t even know if I want to be an actor,” he said in an interview at the time. I started acting when I was 11, and I haven’t done anything else, so I’d like to go and do other things. Genuinely, I’m sort of… having a midlife crisis – at 25, I’m having like a pre-midlife crisis.”