Simon Pegg admits he’d be DEAD if he hadn’t received treatment for his alcohol addiction

Simon Pegg has admitted he’d ‘one hundred per cent’ be dead today if he hadn’t received treatment for his alcohol addiction.

The actor, 52, confessed he had become dependent on the ‘sensation of being numb’ as opposed to the ‘chemical addiction’, after writing about his troubled childhood in his 2009 memoir, Nerd Do Well.

He told The Times he knew he was depressed but ‘just didn’t know how to escape it’, adding he would sometimes even turn to alcohol at breakfast.

‘I look back and it makes me sick’: Simon Pegg has claimed he’d be DEAD if he hadn’t received help with his alcohol addiction… which was caused by reliving his childhood for his memoir

With his longtime collaborator Nick Frost growing concerned and his wife Maureen asking cautiously that he should stop drinking, Simon claimed it was ‘too difficult to admit’ to his problems so metaphorically ‘threw himself off a cliff at high speed’.

Reminiscing on an episode after San Diego’s Comic Con in 2010 which he remembers very little of, the Hot Fuzz star was able to recall sitting on a pavement eating pizza after losing his phone and thinking, ‘S**t. I must look really pathetic.’

After flying back to Los Angeles on a private jet with Sigourney Weaver, who was pretending to serve peanuts as a cabin crew member, he checked into a Santa Monica hotel.

Tragic: The actor, 52, confessed he had become dependent on the ‘sensation of being numb’ as opposed to the ‘chemical addiction’, after writing about his troubled childhood in his 2009 memoir, Nerd Do Well

When asked whether he would be dead today if he hadn’t gotten help at The Priory Hospital, Simon said: ‘One hundred per cent, because, and I don’t think it’s too dramatic to say, that is the ultimate end of that line of flight.’

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He soon realised he’d ‘opened a ziplock file in his mind’ about his parents Gillian and John’s divorce and his ‘difficult’ relationships with their new partners, when writing his book.

The comedian said: ‘My relationship with both [stepfather and stepmother] was really difficult. They were young and immature. They had their own issues. And I was the walking, talking remnant of another relationship.

‘For a child it is extremely disturbing to be rejected by an adult. Adults are the authority on everything. When there’s suddenly an adult in a position of parental power who doesn’t like you, it’s like, what the f***?’

Awful: He soon realised he’d ‘opened a ziplock file in his mind’ about his parents Gillian (pictured) and John’s divorce and his ‘difficult’ relationships with their new partners, when writing his book

He went on to recall how his stepfather would say, ‘What’s this rubbish?’ when Simon was watching TV, adding that he once ‘cornered’ him in the garage with a two-by-four [block of wood] when he hadn’t swept the floor with enough power.

Simon, who has battled depression since the age of 18, revealed he has had ‘deep conversations and heart-to-hearts’ with his friend Tom cruise over the years. 

He previously claimed he would turn up drunk on set while filming his first Mission Impossible movie back in 2006, where he portrayed IMF Tech Benji Dunn.

Simon admitted he was ‘kind of a wreck’ as he recalled how one time he drank his hotel room’s entire mini-bar ahead of shooting scenes.

If you need help, call Alcoholics Anonymous free on 0800 9177 650 or email [email protected]. 

Pal: Simon, who has battled depression since the age of 18, revealed he has had ‘deep conversations and heart-to-hearts’ with his friend Tom Cruise (right) over the years (pictured in 2018)