Simon Pegg became an alcoholic after writing about his difficult childhood in his 2009 memoir, ‘Nerd Do Well’, and he now thinks that his time at the rehabilitation centre actually saved him from death.
The movie star — who became dependent on the “sensation of being numb”, rather than the “chemical addiction” to alcohol — spoke about his battle with addiction. “(I) just didn’t know how to escape it,” he told The Sunday Times.
Pegg said he was drinking alcohol at breakfast at the peak of his addiction struggles, and he now admits that his past behaviour makes him feel sick.
Pegg eventually entered rehab in a bid to regain some control over his own life.
When asked whether he would be dead today if he hadn’t entered rehab, he said: “100 per cent, because, and I don’t think it’s too dramatic to say, that is the ultimate end of that line of flight.”
Pegg said writing his memoir reopened his childhood struggles, including his parents’ divorce.
The ‘Hot Fuzz’ star, who has also battled depression since the age of 18, shared: “My relationship with both [stepfather and stepmother] was really difficult. They were young and immature. They had their own issues. And I was the walking, talking remnant of another relationship.
“For a child it is extremely disturbing to be rejected by an adult. Adults are the authority on everything. When there’s suddenly an adult in a position of parental power who doesn’t like you, it’s like, what the [expletive]?”
Pegg will appear next with Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning’, out July 14, 2023.
