Sam Worthington has slammed Australian drinking culture while speaking about his alcohol addiction.
The actor told Variety that drinking he started to drink to mask the anxiety he felt about his quick rise to fame after starring in Avatar. He said that the increased drinking didn’t make him mean, but, instead, more highly strung.
“I got more emotional and erratic the longer I drank. I don’t think I was mean, exactly, but I could be belligerent, petulant.”
“I’d go haywire over someone asking me for a photograph or taking a photograph of me,” Worthington told Variety. “If someone approached me, my anxiety would go through the roof.”
Worthington, who grew up in Australia, linked his drinking habits to his upbringing.
“In Australia, it’s ingrained in the society,” he said. “We don’t necessarily talk about AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] and things like that. You don’t recognise it’s an illness and you don’t understand that some people are just wired differently,” Worthington said.
“I don’t think I was mean, exactly, but I could be belligerent, petulant,” he added.
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The Avatar: The Way Of The Water star told the publication that his wife Lara Worthing (nee Bingle) called him out on how much he was drinking.
“Lara said ‘You can do what you want but I don’t need to be around this,” he told Variety.
Worthington said that he drank four or five glasses of Champagne while waiting at an airport gate and his wife questioned why he’d drank so much.
“I couldn’t see it… I thought it was normal.” He said, adding” “I didn’t like who I was. Drinking helped me get through the day.”
Worthington quit drinking shortly after and has stayed sober for eight years.
Avatar: The Way of the Water was released on December 15th, 2023 and is currently playing at Australian cinemas.
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