When actor Gary Oldman denounced alcohol abuse this week, addiction experts applauded the move but wondered how the movie star was able to function for so long under the influence.
Oldman won an Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour.” He also portrayed Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movie series and James Gordon in “The Dark Knight” trilogy.
“Gary had profound public success during the depth of his addiction,” psychiatrist Ryan Sultan told NTD. “This was a man at his peak success in Hollywood during a time when he was physically and emotionally deteriorating.”
Oldman believes he narrowly escaped dying from alcoholism or being institutionalized by choosing a sober way of life 28 years ago.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about 178,000 people in the United States die from alcohol-related causes annually, which include alcohol poisoning, liver disease, heart disease, cancer, and car crashes.
Oldman was so addicted to alcohol that he remembers sweating Vodka.
“When I was drinking, I was working and I was remembering lines, so you feel you’re getting away with it, though, deep down, beneath the denial, you know,” Oldman said.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 9.8 million males engage in heavy alcohol use compared to 6.6 million females, for a total of 16.4 million Americans.
Over time, unchecked addiction can lead to three eventual outcomes, including imprisonment, psychiatric hospitalization, or death, according to New York Psychiatrist Jeffrey Ditzell.
“The nervous system can be affected, causing issues such as depression, dementia, or seizure disorder,” Ditzell told NTD.
Luckily for Oldman, after being a functioning alcoholic for the first 20 years of his adult life, he got sober at 55 years old. But it took two trips to a rehabilitation facility before sobriety became Oldman’s permanent way of life.
“My own life, my personal life, is immeasurably better from just not living in a fog,” he said. “I think the work is good, too.”
Oldman started out as an actor in British theater in New Cross, South London, before breaking through in the 1980s. Currently, he’s promoting his Jackson Lamb role in the Apple TV series "Slow Horses."
“Chronic drinking slowly dismantles the body with liver failure, heart disease, and brain damage,” Victory Starts Now senior clinical director and licensed clinical social worker Melissa Johnson told NTD. "It’s a slow erosion with a sudden end."