In his new memoir ‘Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard’‘, Tom Felton spoke openly about his substance abuse and mental health issues. As noted by Entertainment Weekly, Harry Potter alum revealed that during much of his twenties he began “drinking to escape” and spending a lot of time in Los Angeles dive bars, noting that the problems often spilled over into his professional life.
Harry Potter actor Tom Felton talks about his alcohol use and mental health issues in his memoir Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard
“Drinking becomes a habit at the best of times,” writes Felton in Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard. “If you drink to escape a situation, all the more. The habit poured out of the bar, and from time to time, to set in.”
“It got to the point where I wouldn’t think twice about having a drink while I was at work,” Felton continued. “I would show up unprepared, not the professional I wanted to be. However, the alcohol wasn’t the problem. It was the symptom. The problem was deeper,” Felton said when he learned about his struggling mental health.
He then went on to tell how his managers, lawyer and ex-girlfriend Jade Olivia staged an intervention in which he asked for help because they were concerned about his drinking and behavior. “Everyone in the room had written me a letter,” he recalls.
“I listened to Jade and the others tell me how concerned they were about my behavior, my drinking and my substance abuse. I was unable to hear them.” He then recalled a message from his lawyer that “hit the hardest” and made him more willing to seek help.
Felton said: “My lawyer, whom I had hardly ever met in person, spoke with quiet honesty. ‘Tom,’ he said, ‘I don’t know you very well, but you seem like a nice guy. I want to tell you that this is the Seventeenth intervention I’ve had in my career. Eleven of them are dead now. Don’t be the twelfth.'”
After his intervention, Felton entered a rehab facility in Malibu, where he fled less than 24 hours after checking in. He later went to a second rehab but revealed he was kicked out after being found in a girl’s room. Another stint in rehab helped him get back on track.
“I’m not the only one with these feelings,” he wrote. “Just as we all experience physical health problems at some point in our lives, so we all experience mental health problems. That’s no shame. It’s not a sign of weakness. And part of the reason I made the decision to write these pages is the hope that by sharing my experiences, I may be able to help someone else who is struggling.”
“I’m no longer shy about raising my hands and saying, ‘I’m not doing well,” he continued. “To this day I never know what version of myself I’ll wake up with. That brings us back to the concept of drug addiction and the stigma attached to the word. I don’t want to soften the idea of therapy in any way – it is a difficult first step to take – but I do want to do my part to normalize it I think we all need it in one form or another, so why shouldn’t it be normal to talk openly about how we to feel ?”
Also Read: Harry Potter stars Tom Felton and Jason Isaacs have Malfoy reunion to talk self-isolation amid coronavirus pandemic
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