HEALTHDenzel Washington, 69, Is 'Clean' After Doing 'Damage' to His Body From Past Drug and Alcohol Use
Denzel Washington will mark 10 years sober when he turns 70 on December 28.
Denzel Washington's younger years have caught up to him — though for the past decade, he's been dedicated to making good choices for his body.
In a new interview published Tuesday, November 19, the Gladiator II star, 69, opened up about how his past drug and alcohol use has affected his health ahead of his 70th birthday on December 28, which will also mark 10 years of sobriety for Washington.
Denzel Washington stars in 'Gladiator II,' which hits theaters on Friday, November 22.
"I’ve done a lot of damage to the body. We’ll see. I’ve been clean," he admitted. "Things are opening up for me now — like being seventy. It’s real. And it’s OK. This is the last chapter — if I get another thirty, what do I want to do? My mother made it to 97. I’m doing the best I can."
While most celebrities with substance abuse issues tend to fall victim to various substances, Washington's weakness was wine.
Denzel Washington opened up about his past drug and alcohol use in a new interview.
"Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden," The Equalizer actor explained. "I never got strung out on heroin. Never got strung out on coke. Never got strung out on hard drugs. I shot dope just like they shot dope, but I never got strung out."
"And I never got strung out on liquor," he confessed. "I had this ideal idea of wine tastings and all that — which is what it was at first. And that’s a very subtle thing. I mean, I drank the best."
Denzel Washington grew dependent on wine before becoming sober at age 60.
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Having high standards when it came to his wine selection only heightened when his family built a wine cellar in their house, causing him to only want "the best."
"I learned to drink the best. So I’m gonna drink my ’61s and my ’82s and whatever we had. Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that’s what was left," he recalled.
Eventually, Washington started ordering his wines from Gil Turner’s Fine Wines & Spirits on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Calif., where he would frequently ask for "two bottles, the best of this or that."
The Training Day actor's wife, Pauletta, 74. started to notice his constant double order of wine and questioned him on why he needed to order two every time.
Denzel Washington recalled his wife, Pauletta, questioning him about his constant wine drinking.
"'Because if I order more, I’ll drink more,'" Washington remembered telling his spouse, whom he married in 1983. "So I kept it to two bottles, and I would drink them both over the course of the day."
While he grew custom to slugging vino on the daily, Washington said he would sober up when working on various projects.
"I never drank while I was working or preparing. I would clean up, go back to work — I could do both," he noted. "However many months of shooting, bang, it’s time to go. Then, boom. Three months of wine, then time to go back to work."
Esquire interviewed Washington.
