Bobby Deol has been receiving a lot of applause for his performance in Aryan Khan's The Ba***ds of Bollywood recently. The actor opened up about battling alcoholism during one of the toughest phases of his career. He also revealed that his family "feared" him during that time, which eventually led to him getting sober, and now he has been so over a year.
What's Happening
- In a conversation with Raj Shamani on his podcast, Bobby Deol spoke about why alcohol addiction is "worse than drugs". He also recalled how his family stood by him at the time, despite fearing him.
- Bobby Deol said, "I'm working for my family. And if I see fear and sadness in their eyes... it's not like I used to drink every day, but whenever I did, they would fear me. They just didn't know how I would be. It's horrible."
- He added, "I was going through a bad time, my brother was going through a bad time, my dad was obviously not working as much. The house was under pressure. But my brother would never show us that pressure. They never let me take the responsibility; they always hid the stress from me. Now I feel, Why did they do that?"
- Elaborating on how it's family that faces the worst version of someone battling such an addiction, Bobby Deol spoke about his wife.
- He said, "Only the people closest to you are exposed to that angry and dark side of you. For my wife, it was anger, behaving badly, saying stupid things."
- The actor then admitted to what finally led him to sobriety, "That's what alcohol does to you. It messes with your brain. You don't know what you're saying. It's just anger. People think alcohol makes you say the truth, but it's not the truth; it's the pain inside you coming out. But those closest to you face the brunt of it; they have to tolerate it and make sense of it. That's why I finally stopped drinking. It's been more than a year."
Bobby Deol On What Makes Salman Khan And Shah Rukh Khan Such Superstars
Bobby Deol also reflected on how alcoholism made him blame the world for everything, especially for not realising his "worth". He candidly admitted that such thoughts only made him "weak" because he is "emotional", and that alcohol became his only support.
Speaking of the superstars of his generation, as well as the newer lot like Ranbir and Ranveer, Bobby Deol explained that their success comes from self-belief.
He said, "I started drinking a lot, not realising what it was doing to me. I kept blaming the world for misunderstanding me and not recognising my potential. I would get jealous of other actors, but I never thought about why they were succeeding. People liked them because they were working hard. Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are who they are because of their self-belief and hard work. Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, my brother, Ranveer and Ranbir too."
"I did not look in the mirror too often to see how I was really appearing. And what was it I liked most about myself? My looks, more than my acting. I used to be at home all the time, and one day I heard my son telling my wife, 'You go out to work every day, but Papa only sits at home.' And that changed everything for me. I just couldn't handle that. What kind of father was I being?" concluded the actor, admitting that at one point he didn't care about what alcohol was doing to his mind or body.
In A Nutshell
Bobby Deol has been winning hearts with his performance in Aryan Khan's The Ba***ds of Bollywood. The actor recently opened up about his alcohol addiction during a difficult phase in life and revealed he has been sober for over a year. He reflected on how addiction primarily impacts "close ones", sharing that for him, it was his wife who had to endure his "anger" and saying "stupid things".
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