Jason Isaacs had a moment in the ‘90s when he could have been a major star. He was booking all kinds of prestigious work and he was on the cusp in that way that many actors are. And then nothing much happened – Isaacs continued to work in a wide variety of film and TV projects, and he’s still a well-liked and respected actor. There are so many of those actors who – I think – have a moment when they could have been a bigger deal and then something happens and their careers never take off in a huge way. In Jason Isaacs’ case, perhaps he never got to that next level because he struggled with addiction in a profound way for twenty years. He revealed this in an interview with the Big Issue:
An addictive personality: “I’ve always had an addictive personality and by the age of 16 I’d already passed through drink and was getting started on a decades long love affair with drugs. Every action was filtered through a burning need I had for being as far from a conscious, thinking, feeling person as possible. No message would get through for nearly 20 years.”
He first got drunk at the age of 12: “The barman, who we thought at the time was a hero and I now realise belonged in prison, sneaked us a full bottle of Southern Comfort. We drank the entire thing in the toilet, then staggered out into the party, reeling around farcically. I vomited, fell on and pulled down a giant curtain, snogged a girl, god bless her… ran out into the street, vomited again, tripped, smashed my head open on the pavement and gushed blood all over my clothes. The next morning, I woke up with a splitting headache, stinking of puke with a huge scab and the memory of having utterly shamed myself. All I could think was… I cannot f–king wait to do that again. Why? I’ve no idea. Genes? Nurture? Star sign? I just know I chased the sheer ecstatic joy I felt that night for another 20 years with increasingly dire consequences.”
He’s okay now: “I think what would surprise the 16-year-old me is that I’m okay. That I manage to find simple happiness in simple things. Not always, not perfectly, but enough. I thought I was broken. I remember there being a moment, not long before I got clean, when it suddenly occurred to me that if everybody I knew died, literally every single person, I probably wouldn’t mind that much. In fact, I might like it, because then it would be an excuse to sit in a room by myself and take drugs and everybody else would say, well you know, fair enough, you heard what happened didn’t you?”
Isaacs is 57 years old, and I guess he’s saying that he was still in the throes of alcoholism well into his 30s. Which is what happens for a lot of people who struggle with addiction – they spend their teens and 20s in a stupor and then they start to get clean and sober in their 30s. For many people there will be some backsliding and some sobriety failures. But in Isaacs’ case, it sounds like he climbed out of it and has been healthy and sober for more than twenty years. A blessing! I’ve been sober since… 2011, I think. I did it without a program or rehab and clearly, I don’t count my days or anything. What it felt like for me was that I just outgrew it – I got to an age where I was suddenly tired of drinking, tired of feeling that way, tired of the hangovers, tired of thinking about it. I too have an addictive personality and I’m glad that I’m sober now.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I once saw a video from an event where Jason was a guest and I remember him declining alcohol with a joke about his alcoholism. That was the first time I heard he had problems, and it surprised me that the event organizers, where he was the biggest star because of Harry Potter at the time, were not made aware of this. It seemed a bad blunder, offering a recovering alcoholic alcohol.
Anyhoo, I’m glad he’s well now, and I’m glad you’re well, Kaiser!
He is so good looking. That is all.
I’m in my 30s and I’m just finally getting to that point now, thank god. I had started drinking heavily at about age 30 because a series of major losses and loneliness. I still have tumbles but I don’t drink even remotely close to near as often now. I feel the same way you did: tired of the hangovers, of feeling tired and unhealthy, of not being as sharp mentally, of wasting money on it. The pandemic got me more into exercising outdoors and I find that’s a much better feeling. And I’m losing weight that I had put on from the booze.
The clarity is great but can also be hard to get through like: oh my god, what was I doing to myself? To others?
Yep.
Turned 30 this year and during my last hangover in March all I could think was “I am wasting a perfectly good day off in bed feeling utterly miserable”…and now I maybe have 1-2 drinks a week as opposed to 1-4 per day.
Glad he is sober. I loved him in the first season of Star Trek Discovery.
I always appreciate you sharing your own alcohol story, Kaiser. I still enjoy my wine, but can relate a lot to what you you describe. I cut way back because, like you, I just got tired of thinking about it and tired of feeling like crap. I don’t think I could have have imagined getting to this point when I was in my 20s, but appreciating a non-influenced state is just one of the many nice things about getting older.
I actually think I don’t have an addictive personality, which has been my excuse to smoke for years like four or 5 or 3 or 2 cigarettes a day but then for some reason stopping for months without missing it at all.
Same with alcohol. I’ve seriously mistreated my liver in 2018 and part of 2019 with all the alcohol I drank. But at 32 then and 34 now I just got tired of the horrible hangovers and stopped hanging with the drunk crew.
I had a lot of fun. But the hangovers weren’t worth all those miserable days and.. Some embarrassing memories as well.
Now I occasionally have some wine or beer or gin on weekends or so, but not enough to get me drunk. I don’t like to drink alone so this time is perfect for me to restore my liver lol
I have nothing to say except that I really like this man, and I like him a lot as an actor. I’m of the age bracket that remembers him best as Lucius Malfoy, and he was very, very good in that role. I love seeing him post abt Tom Felton every once in a while, it’s hilarious, and it keeps my mind off of the other parts of the Harry Potter world that have gone to rot (obligatory fuck JKR here).