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Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington has opened up about his struggles with alcohol and drug use, revealing the toll it took on his body and his journey to sobriety. As he approaches his 70th birthday in December, Washington, who stars in the highly anticipated Gladiator II, shared his story in an interview with Esquire.
“I’ve done a lot of damage to the body,” Washington admitted, reflecting on a 15-year pattern of heavy drinking and occasional drug use. His journey with alcohol began with a love for fine wine, facilitated by the construction of a 10,000-bottle wine cellar in his home in 1999. “Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden,” he explained. "Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that’s what was left."
Despite his indulgence, Washington said he maintained discipline while working. “I never drank while I was working or preparing. I would clean up, go back to work—I could do both,” he said. However, between projects, he would resume drinking, a cycle he described as “three months of wine, then time to go back to work.”
Washington also experimented with drugs but insisted he never became addicted. “I never got strung out on heroin. Never got strung out on coke. Never got strung out on hard drugs,” he said. “I shot dope just like they shot dope, but I never got strung out.”
The turning point came just before his 60th birthday when he decided to quit for good. "I stopped at sixty, and I haven’t had a thimble’s worth since,” Washington stated. “Things are opening up for me now—like being seventy. It’s real. And it’s okay. This is the last chapter—if I get another thirty, what do I want to do? My mother made it to ninety-seven.”
In addition to sobriety, Washington has focused on improving his physical fitness, a change inspired by musician Lenny Kravitz. With the help of a trainer, he adopted a healthier lifestyle and shed significant weight. “I’m now 190-something pounds on my way to 185,” he shared, adding, “Strong is important.”
With Gladiator II hitting theaters, the actor has expressed no plans to retire, instead hinting at a future behind the camera. “I’m doing the best I can,” he concluded,
