"Wine was my thing": Denzel Washington opens up about alcoholism and drug use

Denzel Washington is almost a decade sober and he's ready to open up about his experiences with addiction.

The 69-year-old Oscar winner and "Gladiator II" star reflected on his relationship with alcohol and substances in an interview with Esquire. The actor told the publication his addiction began with wine, specifically with a wine cellar he had built into his home where he "learned to drink my best." He said, “Wine is very tricky. It’s very slow. It ain’t like, boom, all of a sudden . . . Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that’s what was left."

He described that his drinking was a "15-year pattern" and it led to experimenting with other substances. Washington elaborated, “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,” he said.

During Washington's extensive career, he never drank while working. However, he explained that there were "many months of shooting, bang, it’s time to go. Then, boom. Three months of wine, then time to go back to work.”

At almost 70, Washington said looking back, “I’ve done a lot of damage to the body. We’ll see. I’ve been clean.

“Things are opening up for me now — like being 70. It’s real. And it’s OK. This is the last chapter — if I get another 30, what do I want to do? My mother made it to 97. I’m doing the best I can,” he said.

Washington currently stars as Macrinus, an ambitious arms dealer, in "Gladiator II"