Tom Holland has said that giving up alcohol paved the way for his recent career success. The 29-year-old actor, best known for playing Spider-Man, quit drinking in early 2022 after taking part in Dry January, which made him realise he had become “obsessed” with alcohol.
Speaking at the second annual Bero Padel Classic in Los Angeles on Thursday, Holland told USA Today: “I’ve been so lucky in the last four years that my career has really blossomed in a really lovely way… I don’t know how much of that would’ve come to fruition had I still been drinking.” He added that alcohol was “ultimately really getting in the way of my professional life.”
Holland launched his own non-alcoholic beer brand, Bero, in 2024. The padel tennis tournament was sponsored by his company and attended by his fiancée Zendaya, as well as Simu Liu, Steve Aoki, Diplo and Jay Shetty. He is due to reprise his role as the Marvel superhero opposite Zendaya this summer in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Reflecting on his decision to stop drinking, Holland previously said on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast that he had “a very, very boozy December” and decided to try Dry January. He found it difficult, saying: “All I could think about was having a drink… I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock, ‘When’s it 12 p.m.?’” He extended his abstinence to two months, then until his birthday in June, by which time he said he was “the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Holland now feels “so much more confident in myself as who I am as a person” since giving up alcohol. He said that being an actor can be stressful, but that alcohol “really compounded that issue” for him personally.
