Denzel Washington has spoken candidly about the impact of his past drug and alcohol use, admitting to causing “a lot of damage” to his body.
The 69-year-old Oscar winner, who has been sober for nearly a decade, reflected on his struggles in the Winter issue of Esquire. Washington revealed that his unhealthy habits began with wine.
“Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden,” he said during the interview.
The actor clarified, “I never got strung out on heroin. Never got strung out on coke. Never got strung out on hard drugs. I shot dope just like they shot dope, but I never got strung out.
“And I never got strung out on liquor. I had this ideal idea of wine tastings and all that — which is what it was at first. And that’s a very subtle thing. I mean, I drank the best.”
Washington described owning an extensive wine collection and spending thousands on expensive bottles.
“I learned to drink the best. So I’m gonna drink my ’61s and my ’82s and whatever we had. Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that’s what was left,” he recalled.
He frequently ordered from Gil Turner’s Fine Wines & Spirits, saying, “I’d call … and say, ‘Send me two bottles, the best of this or that.’” His wife, Pauletta, questioned why he only ordered two bottles, and he explained, “‘Because if I order more, I’ll drink more.’ So I kept it to two bottles, and I would drink them both over the course of the day.”
Washington emphasized that he avoided alcohol while working. “I never drank while I was working or preparing. I would clean up, go back to work — I could do both,” he shared. “However many months of shooting, bang, it’s time to go. Then, boom. Three months of wine, then time to go back to work.”
He wasn’t drinking during the filming of the 2012 drama Flight, where he portrayed an alcoholic pilot. “I’m sure I did as soon as I finished. That was getting toward the end of the drinking, but I knew a lot about waking up and looking around, not knowing what happened,” he admitted.
Washington decided to quit drinking in December 2014, shortly after turning 60. Reflecting on the toll of his past, he acknowledged, “I’ve done a lot of damage to the body. We’ll see. I’ve been clean.”
As his 70th birthday approaches on December 28, he described this period as “the last chapter.”
The actor recently announced plans to retire after completing his next slate of films.
