Simon Pegg 'turned up drunk' to film 'Mission: Impossible III' scenes
Simon Pegg has revealed he was a 'wreck' during the production of Mission Impossible III as a result of an alcohol addiction.
The actor, 51, who played Benji Dunn in the film admitted he was ‘kind of a wreck’ during filming for the 2006 blockbuster. Appearing on the Headstrong podcast Pegg — who has since overcome his addiction — reflected on 'reaching the point of no return'.
He said: “I remember being stuck in this hotel room in Beverly Hills. I would drink a lot. I drank my whole mini-bar because I wanted to not feel that way.”
“By the time I came on set to do my scenes I was kind of a wreck because I was super-anxious and I'd been drinking.”
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He continued: "All those fixes are so temporary, they don't solve the problem they just dam it up."
"When I knew I was in trouble I just kicked the can down the street by having a pint. It's not the way to go."
On the podcast the Shaun of the Dead star candidly said his time at university had saved him from a dangerous point in his 20s, but that alcoholism always 'dogged' him and he found himself at ‘rock bottom’ at the end of his 30s.
“As long as alcohol was in my blood I would feel anaesthetised from how I felt,” he said.
“Obviously the only problem with that is, you have to stay drunk all the time and that inevitably leads to alcoholism which is where I found myself towards the end of my thirties.”
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Asked which point felt like the turning point in his battle with addiction, he admitted: “It was because I reached a point of no return. I reached rock bottom. I’d just come back from Comic Con I think, I stopped for a drink on the way back from the airport before I even got home.”
“It was impossible to disguise the kind of mess I was in so my wife and friends intervened and I kind of woke up there [The Priory].”
“Suddenly having given myself up to being helped and admitting that I had a problem and being in the right place to solve it, it was a great relief to me.”
“Before I was hiding bottles and I’d be one person in front of my family and friends and another when I was by myself.”
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