Tom Holland opens up about ‘scary’ realisation he had after trying Dry January

The Spiderman star quit drinking alcohol in early 2022.

The 28-year-old actor is now more than two years sober, having decided to take a break from drinking during the first month of 2022, then decided to continue with his abstinence after experiencing a range of health benefits.

Appearing on the popular Rich Roll podcast recently, Holland opened up about the positives of not drinking and revealed a 'scary' realisation that manifested after months on the dry.

"Doing Dry January, it really scared me because I had a really tough time," the 28-year-old said.

"I couldn't quite wrap my head around how much I was struggling without booze in that first month. And it really scared me."

Despite the difficulty, the Cherry star chose to aim for a longer period of temperance.

"The second month was no easier if anything like it got a little bit harder," he explained. "So then again, I was starting to kind of panic thinking ‘damn, I have a bit of an alcohol thing’."

The actor explained he’d had an ‘upsetting conversation with a doctor’ about his liver a year earlier and this acknowledgment of an issue contributed to a decision to do March too.

"I got through March and started to feel a little bit better, but was still really struggling," Holland said. "So I said to myself, if I can make it to June 1st, which is my birthday, and I can do six months without booze, I will have then proved to myself that I don't have a problem. I'm just young and enjoying a drink. And then by the time I'd done six months sober, I really started feeling the benefits."

A year later, and not a trace of alcohol having touched the Kingston-upon-Thames native's lips, Holland decided: "I’m never gonna drink again because this is the best version of myself."

The actor recently launched his own line of non-alcoholic beer called Bero.

Anyone who wants a non-alcoholic substitute for the remainder of Dry January can buy a variety pack from the company's website. It comes with three booze-free tinnies: Kingston Golden Pils, Edge Hill Hazy IPA, and Noon Wheat and is available for £27.

Holland's business partner at Bero, John Herman, commended his associate's determination and commitment to alcohol-free living.

"You see all the headlines suggesting that it’s the Gen Z 20-year-old that isn’t drinking anymore," he told Mens Health.

"That’s true to a point. But if you look at this past Dry January, about [30] percent of people in the age range of 35 to 54 participated, and that’s massive."

He continued: "There is this consumer moment that is still in the early innings, but it is so far beyond where it was five years ago. You just don’t have to fight upstream."