‘Hannibal’ actor Anthony Hopkins contemplates on a focal point in his life wherein he realised he was turning into a raging alcoholic. In an interview with The Interview, a podcast from The New York Times, on October 25, he talked about his forthcoming memoir, ‘We Did OK, Kid.’ He acutely recounts his nuance on alcoholism stating, “I was drunk and driving my car here in California in a blackout, no clue where I was going, when I realized that I could have killed somebody — or myself, which I didn’t care about,” he told the outlet. “I came to my senses and said to an ex-agent of mine at this party in Beverly Hills, ‘I need help.’ ”
He furthermore stated, “It was 11 o’clock precisely — I looked at my watch — and this is the spooky part: Some deep, powerful thought or voice spoke to me from inside and said: ‘It’s all over. Now you can start living. And it has all been for a purpose, so don’t forget one moment of it.’ ”
His inner mediated voice is described as “vocal, male, reasonable, like a radio voice.” This calling convinced him to quit alcoholism. “The craving to drink was taken from me, or left. Now I don’t have any theories except divinity or that power that we all possess inside us that creates us from birth, life force, whatever it is,” Hopkins said. “It’s consciousness, I believe. That’s all I know.” Earlier, the actor also stated his childhood struggles with bullies and a neglected adolescence. He intoxicated himself to “nullify that discomfort or whatever it was in me, because it made me feel big.”
In the interview, he talks at length about his drinking dilemma. “You know, booze is terrific because it makes you instantly feel in a different space,” he added. “Actors in those days — Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, all of them — I remember those drinking sessions, thinking: ‘This is the life. We’re rebels, we’re outsiders, we can celebrate.’ And at the back of the mind is: ‘It’ll kill you as well.’ Those guys I worked with have all gone.”For his part, Hopkins expressed gratitude for being “still here.”
“There are monstrous difficulties in life and you take notice of them. But finally, approaching 88 years of age, I wake up in the morning going: ‘I’m still here. How?’ ” the Silence of the Lambs’ star considered. “I don’t know. But whatever’s keeping me here, thank you very much! Much obliged!”
