Denzel Washington Opens Up About His 15-Year Struggle with Alcohol and the Journey to Sobriety

Hollywood icon Denzel Washington has opened up about his long-standing battle with alcohol, offering an honest glimpse into the struggles he’s faced over the years.

In a candid interview with Esquire, the two-time Academy Award winner shared the details of his journey with wine, describing it as a “fifteen-year pattern” that slowly but surely took hold of his life.

“It starts slow, you know?” Washington said, reflecting on how his wine consumption crept up on him over time. “Wine is tricky. It’s not like one day you just wake up and go, ‘Boom, I’m an alcoholic.’ It’s a gradual thing.”

The actor traced the roots of his indulgence back to 1999, when he built a large home that featured a wine cellar with space for a staggering 10,000 bottles. “I learned to drink the best,” he admitted. “I’d sip on my ’61s and ’82s, whatever we had, and before I knew it, I was popping $4,000 bottles, just because that’s what was left.”

The habit soon became a regular part of his life. Washington recalled calling up Gil Turner’s Fine Wines & Spirits on Sunset Boulevard, asking for “two bottles, the best of this or that,” as his taste for fine wine deepened.

But Washington wasn’t just dealing with alcohol. He also reflected on his past experiments with drugs during his youth. Though he admitted to trying substances like heroin and cocaine, he emphasized that he never became dependent on them.

Looking back on his life, he admitted that quitting drinking wasn’t an easy decision. “Drinking was a fifteen-year pattern,” he explained. “It didn’t start in ’99, it started earlier.” But the turning point came about ten years ago, just as he was approaching his 60s. 

He made the bold choice to stop drinking entirely. “I’ve done a lot of damage to my body. We’ll see,” he said. “But I’ve been clean. This December marks ten years. I haven’t had a drop since I turned sixty, not even a thimble’s worth.”

Now at 70, Washington is embracing this new chapter in his life with a sense of peace. “Things are opening up for me now like being seventy. It’s real. And it’s okay,” he said, adding, “If I get another thirty years, what do I want to do? My mother made it to ninety-seven.”