Idris Elba is opening up about his personal life like never before in a new interview. The British star spoke of his many unhealthy habits, including being a workaholic.
He said that these nasty habits were hurting his relationship with his family and fueled his decision to go to therapy.
Elba appeared on the Changes with Annie Macmanus podcast, where he confessed that he has been seeing a mental health expert for the past year.
The 51-year-old filmmaker said he sought the help of the therapist because he realized that he needed a major change in his life.
He stated: “It’s a lot. In my therapy, I’ve been thinking a lot about changing, almost to the point of neuropathy [sic] being changed and shifting.”
Idris Elba revealed that he is more or less addicted to work, and he is greatly rewarded for that in the entertainment industry.
He is hugely famous in the United States and Europe and is well respected by all members of the British royal family.
Elba added: “It’s not because I don’t like myself or anything like that, it’s just because I have some unhealthy habits that have really formed. And I work in an industry where I’m rewarded for those unhealthy habits.”
The self-described “workaholic” said he realized that he is truly happy after he has accomplished something great, such as working on a movie or creating a new project.
He eventually told himself that it was not normal to feel fulfilled only by his job.
He stated: “Nothing that’s too extreme is good, everything needs balance, but I’m rewarded massively to be a workaholic [compared] to someone that’s like, ‘Eh, I’m not going to see my family for six months, and I’m in there grinding and making a new family and leaving them.”
He also said: “Those are pathways that I had to be on; I’ve got to adjust. So I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and oddly enough, a lot of our childhood is really at the root of it.”
Elba said he had to change his lifestyle and find other activities other than work for him to unwind.
He stated: “The thing is the things that make me relaxed end up being work. My studio is in my house, I just love being in here. I’ll open that laptop and be like, ‘I don’t know what to make today’ and it’ll come out like this or that. And I’m exhilarated by that and also so relaxed by it.”
Elba concluded by: “I could work 10 days on a film, underwater sequences holding my breath for six minutes, and come back and sit in [his studio] and [feel relaxed], more so than sitting on the sofa with the family — which is bad, right? This is the part where I’ve got to normalize what makes me relaxed, it can’t be all work.”
The actor is always to bring new layers to his craft.
