Anthony Hopkins decided to celebrate the end of 2025 with particular solemnity.
The actor has reason to celebrate – it’s his 50th year of sobriety.
Anthony Hopkins came within a hair’s breadth of death 50 years ago. It was December 29th, and the actor was driving from Arizona to Beverly Hills. He was completely drunk, as was common for him back then.
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Anthony Hopkins Celebrates 50 Years of Sobriety
That was the day Hopkins was reborn. By 1975, the actor was drinking heavily—a bottle of tequila was the norm, but his sense of well-being was replaced by hallucinations and fainting spells. Driving to Beverly Hills that fateful day, he was completely drunk. The trip lasted several days, during which he remained intoxicated throughout.
I was driving through the canyons, half-conscious, with no idea where I was. In the morning, I wondered if I’d accidentally killed someone. I was checking the front of the car… I could have killed myself, too, but I didn’t care,” he recalled on The New York Times podcast.
Watch the video Żulczyk and Strachota: This is the cool thing about sobering up
His condition during the tour shook him profoundly. Anthony Hopkins claims that he felt a higher power intervene. He heard a voice telling him categorically, “It’s over. Now you can start living.”
It was 11 o’clock, I remember because I looked at my watch. And now the disturbing part: some deep, powerful voice or thought spoke to me from within. I heard, “It’s over. Now you can start living. It all had a purpose, so you mustn’t forget any of it.” And so I lost the need to reach for a drink,” he said.
The actor asked his then-agent for help. During group therapy, he learned to live again and also opened up to his faith. In a new recording, he argues that his life has only gotten better over the past 50 years.
And so here we are, another year behind us. There will be lots of celebration, fun, and all that, a wonderful time. Congratulations to all of you on another year. Exactly 50 years ago, I almost died driving drunk without realizing it. That’s exactly what happened. But I realized in time that I was having too much fun. It’s called alcoholism. So if anyone else here also has a little problem with drinking a little too much, it’s worth taking a closer look, because life IS so much better. I stopped. No complaints. I got help, and 50 years ago, this nightmare ended. Choose life,” the legendary actor argued.
Anthony Hopkins will celebrate his 88th birthday on New Year’s Eve . He believes it was a choice he made in 1975 that saved his life. During therapy, he realized that the industry friends with whom he drank himself into oblivion were also alcoholics. Five years later, Peter O’Toole, his stomach burned by alcohol, sought help. Richard Burton didn’t make it—he died when his body finally gave out after years of poisoning.