Denzel Washington reveals struggles with alcohol, celebrates ten years of sobriety

Hollywood actor Denzel Washington has opened up about his past struggles with alcohol, revealing a 15-year period of heavy drinking that began in the late 1990s. In an interview with Esquire, Washington shared that his wine consumption gradually grew into a regular habit, fueled by a wine cellar he built in 1999 with space for 10,000 bottles.

Washington described how he began indulging in expensive wines, sometimes purchasing $4,000 bottles. “Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden,” he said, reflecting on how his drinking habits evolved over the years. He also acknowledged experimenting with drugs in his youth, though he never became addicted to substances like heroin or cocaine.

Despite the slow escalation, the turning point came as he approached his 60th birthday. Washington decided to quit drinking for good, marking a decade of sobriety this December. “I’ve done a lot of damage to the body. We’ll see. I’ve been clean. Be ten years this December. I stopped at sixty and I haven’t had a thimble’s worth since,” he said, expressing how much his life has changed since giving up alcohol.

Now in his 70s, Washington is embracing the next chapter of his life with a renewed sense of purpose. He is optimistic about the future, reflecting on his mother’s long life and looking ahead with the mindset that the best is yet to come. “Things are opening up for me now. It’s real. And it’s okay.”