Tom Felton has released a memoir of his struggles
(Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for SOLT)Harry Potter star Tom Felton has recalled his time in rehab for alcohol abuse.
The 35-year-old has opened up about his struggles in his new memoir, Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard, revealing he turned to drink while struggling with his mental health.
In an excerpt obtained by People, Felton said that he began “drinking to escape” in his mid-twenties after “craving normality” following his child stardom and move to Los Angeles.
The actor said he went from not being a big drinker to “regularly having a few pints a day before the sun had even gone down, and a shot of whiskey to go with each of them”.
He reflected: “The alcohol, though, wasn’t the problem. It was the symptom. The problem was deeper.”
Felton said things came to a head when his manager, agents, and his girlfriend at the time staged an intervention, urging him to get help.
However, the film star revealed that it was his lawyer who really got the message through to him.
During a poignant phone call, Felton was told that his lawyer had witnessed 17 interventions in his career, of which 11 people died, and he did not want the star to be the twelfth.
Following the intervention, he checked in to a rehab facility in Malibu but fled less than 24 hours later.
He then entered a second facility but got kicked out after being found in a girl’s room.
Felton said his life finally turned around after he adopted his dog, Willow, and went to rehab on his own terms a few years later.
He writes in the memoir: “I can honestly say it was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make. But the very fact that I was able to admit to myself that I needed some help — and I was going to do something about it — was an important moment.
“I am no longer shy of putting my hands up and saying: ‘I’m not okay. I am not alone in having these feelings. Just as we all experience physical ill-health at some stage in our lives, so we all experience mental ill-health, too. There’s no shame in that. It’s not a sign of weakness.”
Felton also revealed that he decided to share his past struggles to encourage others to seek therapy.
He continued: “By no means do I want to casualise the idea of therapy — it’s a difficult first step to take — but I do want to do my bit to normalise it.
“I think we all need it in one shape or another, so why wouldn’t it be normal to talk openly about how we’re feeling?”
