Denzel Washington Describes His Past Battle With Alcohol, Reveals It Did “A lot of Damage To The Body”

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Denzel Washington spoke candidly about having issues with alcohol, detailing his reasons and his sobriety in an interview.

Veteran actor Denzel Washington revealed his past issues with alcohol in a far-ranging interview for Esquire Magazine’s Winter 2024 issue. The interview was released in conjunction with promotion for his starring role in Gladiator II.

The Academy Award-winner detailed how he had a preference for wine and talked about drinking due to being “bitter” after losing out on the Oscar in 1999 for his portrayal of wrongly-imprisoned boxer Ruben “Hurricane” Carter in The Hurricane to controversial actor Kevin Spacey for his role in American Beauty. “Wine is very tricky,” Washington said. “It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden. And part of it was we built this big house in 1999 with a ten-thousand-bottle wine cellar, and I learned to drink the best. So I’m gonna drink my ’61s and my ’82s and whatever we had.”

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The Equalizer actor stressed that it never interfered with his acting work because of his self-imposed restraint. “I’d call Gil Turner’s Fine Wines & Spirits on Sunset Boulevard and say, Send me two bottles, the best of this or that. And my wife’s saying, Why do you keep ordering just two? I said, Because if I order more, I’ll drink more. So I kept it to two bottles, and I would drink them both over the course of the day,” he recalled, continuing: “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.”

Denzel Washington Reveals He Is Now Sober

Washington would remark that the fifteen-year period until he gave up alcohol altogether did “a lot of damage to the body.” But he stated that he’s been sober for ten years as of next month. “I haven’t had a thimble’s worth since,” he said. Washington cited his faith and getting more health-conscious with the help of Lenny Kravitz, who helped him get a physical trainer.  

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