Anthony Hopkins is recalling the night he confronted his alcoholism five decades ago.
The Oscar-winning actor, 87, opened up in a recent The New York Times podcast, recalling an event he says could have ended in tragedy.
“I was drunk and driving my car here in California in a blackout, no clue where I was going, when I realised I could have killed somebody, or myself, which I didn’t care about,” Hopkins recalled. “I came to my senses and said to an ex-agent of mine at this party in Beverly Hills, ‘I need help.’”
He said the moment felt almost supernatural. “It was 11 o’clock precisely. I looked at my watch and some deep, powerful voice inside me said: ‘It’s all over. Now you can start living.’”
Hopkins said that voice — which he described as “male, reasonable, like a radio voice” — instantly lifted his craving to drink. “The desire was gone,” he said.
The Silence of the Lambs star admitted to having seen drinking as a way to “nullify the loneliness” of his youth.
“It made me feel big.” But now, nearly five decades sober, Hopkins said he’s simply grateful. “I wake up in the morning going, ‘I’m still here. How?’ Whatever’s keeping me here. Thank you.”
Hopkins’ memoir, We Did OK, Kid, will be published November 4.
