14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re a reader of our Lifestyle section, you know that we have more love for Tom Hardy than for any other actor, and that’s because he’s very talented, dedicated, private and, at the same time, brutally honest. Of course, being very handsome and kind also helps him a lot.
Hardy sat down for an interview with the Mirror a few days ago, to talk about his charitable work for The Prince’s Trust, which aims to offer help to disadvantaged youth, many of them dealing with drug or alcohol addiction.
He has every reason to get involved in this particular charity because he too has struggled with addiction, both to drugs and alcohol so, of course, he knows what it’s like to lose control, to see everything you’ve worked for go down the drain.
Though he’s been sober for years, Tom admits that he’s still as insecure as he was back when he was using or drinking. He’s come to think of his career as his latest “addiction” and admits that he lives in fear all the time because of it.
He’s not afraid he might fall from the proverbial grace, nonetheless: he’s just insecure.
“I’m just a frightened bloke. Everything scares me. Not being in control, not knowing, anticipation, waiting for something to go wrong. Fear itself. I’m in a really good space today, but I can always find something to moan about, even sitting on a pedestal. It’s never that far away for me,” Hardy explains.
He started acting because he wanted his dad to be proud of him and “I fell into acting because there wasn’t anything else I could do. I didn’t want anyone to know I was out of control, but I couldn’t hide it. Eventually, the body gives up. I was completely kaput. I was lucky I didn’t get hepatitis or AIDS.”
So, in a way, he’s replaced his previous two addictions with acting, getting his high from going from project to project, inhabiting character after character. But the fear is still there.
“If I stop working they might take it away from me. People will say ‘Tommy you’re doing well’ and I say ‘Am I?’ In my head I’m still the kid. Does that make sense? I love what I do, but it’s driven by a fear of not being able to do it. It’s the same with drinking – if I stop then who am I? What have I got? I have to watch that drive. It doesn’t matter how well I am doing, I’m only that far away from [expletive]-ing it all up,” Hardy explains.
As we said above, he is one actor who’s not shy around words, especially those who paint him as an insecure “bloke.” To compensate for all this gloomy talk, attached to this article is a photo of Tom kissing a puppy.