Tom Holland has revealed that he has been sober for over a year and shared how a mini “meltdown” while filming The Crowded Room helped him learn about his own “triggers”.
The Spider-Man actor has reflected on his own mental health journey a month before he stars as Danny Sullivan in the new psychological thriller The Crowded Room.
While promoting the new Apple TV+ series, the actor got candid about how the character helped him recognize his own struggles after he took a short break from social media last year.
Tom Holland has been sober for over a year
Tom is celebrating a major milestone in his life as he has been sober for a year and four months. He revealed that playing Danny in The Crowded Room “really beat me up” and that it took a long time before he recovered from the character.
“I was seeing myself in him, but in my personal life. I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking, like, ‘I’m going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character’,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
The actor said that “learning about mental health” and getting to know “Danny’s struggles” has been “informative” for his own life and mental health journey.
The 26-year-old star added that he worked with psychiatrists while filming the new series to help him recognize his own “triggers” and “things that stress me out”.
The actor took a short break from social media
The interview comes after Tom took a brief break from social media in August last year to focus on his own mental health.
In the three-minute video, the actor detailed how he finds Twitter and Instagram “over-stimulating” and “overwhelming” which is why he’d decided to delete the apps from his phone.
“I get caught up and I spiral when I read things about me online,” he explained at the time. “And ultimately it’s very detrimental to my mental state, so I decided to take a step back and delete the app.”
Tom’s parents run a mental health support charity
In the same video, Tom mentioned the charity, The Brothers Trust Shop, which was set up by his parents Nikki and Dom Holland in 2017.
The actor shared that the organization helped him during his social media break and added he hopes the charity could help other young people struggling with mental health.
“There is a link in my bio to The Brothers Trust Shop, where you can buy a t-shirt, and help us continue to help these amazing charities thrive,” Tom wrote in the caption of the Instagram post. “Love to you all, and let’s get talking about mental health.”