Tom Holland has no regrets about embracing a sober lifestyle, crediting the change with helping drive his acting success.
The Spider-Man star, 29, quit drinking in early 2022 after participating in the “Dry January” challenge, which made him realize he had become “obsessed” with alcohol. In 2024, he launched his non-alcoholic beer brand, Bero.
On Thursday, the British actor hosted his second annual Bero Padel Classic, a padel tennis tournament in Los Angeles sponsored by his company and attended by numerous A-listers, including his fiancée Zendaya, Simu Liu, Steve Aoki, Diplo and Jay Shetty.
Asked by USA Today at the event whether his life’s blessings would have unfolded the same way had he not become sober, Holland replied: “That’s a really big question.
“I’ve been so lucky in the last four years that my career has really blossomed in a really lovely way, and I really love what’s happening and what I have to come in the future. And I don’t know how much of that would’ve come to fruition had I still been drinking.”
He admitted that drinking was “ultimately really getting in the way of my professional life.”
“Being an actor and living your life on the big stage can be really stressful,” Holland explained. “And I think that alcohol, for me personally, really compounded that issue. And, since getting rid of the booze and feeling more like myself and waking up clear-headed every day and fresh to start the day, I just feel so much more confident in myself as who I am as a person.”
Holland, who will reprise his role as the Marvel superhero opposite Zendaya this summer in the highly anticipated Spider-Man: Brand New Day, has previously spoken openly about his journey toward sobriety.
“I didn’t one day wake up and say, ‘I’m giving up drinking’. I just, like many Brits, had had a very, very boozy December. [It was] Christmas time, I was on vacation, I was drinking a lot and I’ve always been able to drink a lot,” he said on a 2023 episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, suggesting that his ability to drink large amounts of alcohol stems from his mother’s side of the family.
Holland decided to stop drinking for the month of January, but found it difficult. “All I could think about was having a drink. That’s all I could think about. I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock, ‘When’s it 12 p.m.?’” he said.
“It just really scared me. I just was like, ‘Wow, maybe. Maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing,’” he continued. “So I sort of decided to punish myself and say, ‘I’ll do February as well. I’ll do two months off. If I can do two months off, then I can prove to myself that I don’t have a problem.’”
However, he found that he was still “really struggling” two months off alcohol and felt like not drinking impacted his ability to socialize.
“I felt like I couldn’t go to the pub and have a lime soda. I couldn’t go out for dinner. I was really, really struggling and I started to really worry that maybe I had an alcohol problem.”
The Crowded Room star then ultimately decided to quit alcohol until his birthday in June to “prove to myself that I don’t have a problem.” He found that, by the time he got to his self-imposed deadline, he was “the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
If you or someone you know is suffering from alcohol addiction, you can confidentially call the national alcohol helpline Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 or visit the NHS website here for information about the programmes available to you.
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