Tom Holland gets candid about his sobriety journey: 'The best thing I've ever done'

Tom Holland is opening up about alcohol addiction, admitting that getting sober was "the best thing I've ever done" after realizing he'd become "enslaved" to alcohol. The "Spider-Man" star is currently taking a year-long break from acting and has decided to focus on his well-being. The 27-year-old actor spoke about his decision to give up drinking after "a very, very boozy" Christmas last year on Monday's episode of Jay Shetty Podcast.

"I didn't one day wake up and say, 'I'm giving up drinking.' I just, like many Brits, had had a very, very boozy December. [It was] Christmas time, I was on vacation, I was drinking a lot, and I've always been able to drink a lot," he recalled. "I think I get my genes from my mom's side in that thing — I can drink. And I decided to just give [it] up for January."

But it was difficult as all the actor could think about was having a drink. "That's all I could think about," he admitted. "I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock, when's it 12 p.m.?" The intense cravings started to concern him. "It just really scared me. I just was like, 'Wow, maybe. Maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing.' So I sort of decided to punish myself and say, 'I'll do February as well. I'll do two months off. If I can do two months off, then I can prove to myself that I don't have a problem.'"

The "Spider-Man: Far From Home" star confessed he found it hard to resist England's drinking culture. "I felt like I couldn't be social," Holland said. "I felt like I couldn't go to the pub and have a lime soda. I couldn't go out for dinner. I was really, really struggling. I just sort of said to myself, like, 'Why? Why am I enslaved to this drink? Why am I so obsessed by the idea of having this drink?'"

As he neared his birthday last month, things took a turn for the better. "I said to myself, 'If I can do six months without alcohol, then I can prove to myself that I don't have a problem.' And by the time I got to June 1, I was the happiest I've ever been in my life," "The Crowded Room" star said, adding a list of benefits of being alcohol-free. "I could sleep better. I could handle problems better," he remembered. "Things that would go wrong on set, that would normally set me off, I could take in my stride. I had such better mental clarity. I felt healthier, I felt fitter."

He also admitted that he'd previously felt "so much pressure" to drink heavily from his rugby community "and this is one of the [reasons] why I've sort of distanced myself from the rugby community 'cause so much of it is about how much can you drink. Let's get you as drunk as possible," he explained, before adding that he has no regrets. "It's honestly been the best thing I've ever done."