Addiction is not something a lot of people know how to deal with and Mission: Impossible star Simon Pegg is no stranger to it either. People can be addicted to some of the most mundane things, while they can also be addicted to life-threatening, dangerous activities. From gaming and intercourse to alcohol and substances, there is no beginning to a person and end to an activity when it comes to dealing with addiction.
Pegg found himself in a horrible position while he was at the peak of his career. Even he could not understand why his emotions were all over the place when in reality he was doing so great as an actor. Nevertheless, his decision to get help was one that benefitted him to date.
Mission: Impossible Star Simon Pegg’s Alcoholism
Simon Pegg rose to fame after he got the role of Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible franchise. It magnificently boosted his career and all that he had wished for while he was growing up was finally manifesting piece by piece. However, it was not enough to push the actor away from the depression he had been facing since he was eighteen years old.
“I went completely stir crazy and I was drinking to pass the time. Then you get hungover and you wind up not feeling great. I didn’t have a car. And I remember the hotel had a car service and I got them take me down to the coast, to Santa Monica and I sat in Ye Olde King’s Head, this British pub, and drank Stellas to feel some semblance of normality.”
Despite being happy in his life career-wise, he could not find any motivation to keep that happiness going and developed a coping mechanism that backfired on him; alcoholism. He was not only drinking every single day outside of shoots, but he was also drinking while he was supposed to be shooting.
Simon Pegg Saw His Alcoholism Affecting His Work
Simon Pegg was drinking not only as a coping mechanism after a point but as a daily habit. He could not go without drinking even for a day. Even while he was kept in a hotel before the shooting for Mission: Impossible III, he kept on drinking in his Beverly Hills hotel room. He added that either he was always hungover or drunk.
This affected the way he was acting and his performances paid severely because of it. It wasn’t until Pegg started to notice how drastically his acting was depleting that he sought out rehabilitation. However, that did not come until years later in 2011 when everything was crumbling apart for the actor.
Source: The Guardian
