HEALTHTom Holland Reveals the 'Eye-Opening Moment' He Decided to Get Sober: 'I'm Quite Strong-Willed'
Tom Holland revealed the challenges he's faced two years into his sobriety journey.
Tom Holland is opening up about his decision to get sober and the lessons he's learned along the way.
While promoting his new non-alcoholic beer line, Bero, the Spider-Man star shared the personal story behind his journey to sobriety. In January 2022, he decided to take a month off from drinking. During that time, he came to realize how deeply alcohol was woven into his social life.
Tom Holland decided to get sober after realizing how much alcohol affected his life.
“Every Friday after work was a write-off: Let’s get drunk and have a good time. I didn’t have bad experiences, but I would drink enough so that I would ruin my next day,” Holland, who is in a relationship with Zendaya, explained in an interview with Men's Health.
What pushed him to quit for good was a doctor's warning about the damage alcohol could do to his liver.
However, the first month of sobriety wasn’t easy. Holland admitted he often craved a drink at social gatherings. He recalled a moment when he drove his brother to a poker night, and halfway through, he felt the urge to leave early.
He asked his brother if they could head home instead, feeling like he needed a drink to have a good time. His brother's surprise at the request was a turning point for him.
“It was a bit of an eye-opening moment for me and for him,” Holland explained. “It’s really helpful when the people closest to you start going, ‘Are you sure?’”
In January 2022, he took a one month break from alcohol, which helped him recognize its role in his social life.
Despite initial struggles, Holland stuck it out for six months, which is when he began noticing the positive changes: he had more energy, improved focus and better control during stressful times in his career.
In May 2022, while filming The Crowded Room with Amanda Seyfried and Emmy Rossum, Holland faced more challenges. He recalled the tense, argumentative atmosphere on set — not over creative differences, but personal conflicts. It was a true test for him as a newly sober actor.
“I thought, If I start drinking again now, with all this going on, it’s gonna get worse, right?” he said.
The actor found support from his family, friends, and colleagues during his sobriety journey.
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He also had a pivotal conversation with his lawyer early on in his journey when he was really struggling.
“You’ll never wake up the morning after a night out and wish you had a drink," his lawyer told Holland.
“I’m quite strong-willed. When I decide to do something, I’m really gonna do it,” he added, noting he didn't seek formal treatment. “I leaned on close ones a lot: family, friends, old colleagues, new colleagues, people that reached out that I didn’t know who also were sober.”
Holland said it resonated with him because his issue was always that one drink would lead to another, leading him to lose control.
Holland celebrated his 26th birthday in June 2022 with a big bash — but by that point, he had no desire to drink.
Two years sober, Tom Holland celebrated his 26th birthday in June 2022, without any desire to drink.
Holland later reflected on his alcohol struggles in 2024 in a separate interview, saying, “I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how much I was struggling without booze in that first month — and it really scared me.”
On the “Rich Roll” podcast, he admitted, “I decided, as a sort of punishment to myself, that I would do February as well as January.”
But the second month didn’t get any easier — if anything, it was tougher. Holland recalled starting to panic, thinking, “D---. I have a bit of an alcohol thing.”
He committed to a third month, explaining, “I got through March and started feeling a little bit better, but was still really struggling. So I said to myself, ‘If I can make it to June 1, which is my birthday, and I can do six months without booze, I will have then proved to myself that I don’t have a problem. I’m just young and enjoying a drink.’”
By the time June rolled around, Holland said he began feeling the benefits of sobriety.
“I started sleeping better. I was handling stressful situations better. My relationship [with Zendaya] was better. My relationship with my family was better. My relationship with my work was better,” Holland shared.
He made the decision to push for an entire year. “By the time I crossed that annual mark, I was done. I was like, ‘I’m never gonna drink again because this is the best version of myself,'" he said.
