Hollywood actor Colin Farrell has said he is finally content after years as a “pisshead druggie”.
Speaking in Dublin on Wednesday, Mr Farrell said his “meteoric rise” to stardom in his 20s was unsustainable and would inevitably have to end.
After his Hollywood blockbuster “flop” Alexander, Farrell said he read every negative review of the film available and obsessed over the criticism.
There’s no right way to tread this path of life. We’re all bound together as a community. We’re bound by a moral obligation to take care of each other. Not at the expense of our own health but it’s real. Colin Farrell in conversation with @MiriamOCal #PendulumSummit pic.twitter.com/Htrn64EdMO
— Pendulum Summit (@PendulumSummit) January 9, 2019
“I have read copious amount of negative press about myself, my life lives majority in positivity, so I try to avoid it.
“Alexander was a huge film, a bunch of Irish lads playing big roles and we all thought we were all off to Hollywood, and the film didn’t work.
“It was an extraordinary box office flop, I set myself up for a fall, I remember saying; ‘If this fails, I’m in trouble, because I put everything in this film’.
“I went to a ski resort immediately after so I could wear a ski mask everyday and not be arrested.
“I’d had such a grand six or seven years, a meteoric rise, but I didn’t make that, Hollywood made that, it’s just about the hype.
“I needed that lesson, and that humility, I felt like I let everyone down, I took it very personally, I wanted to apologise to everyone I met for six months.
“As a 23-year-old, of course it affected me.”
Now 42, and father to two children, Farrell says his life is very different from his Hollywood heyday, the Dublin native previously said he was “out of control” with alcohol and drugs when he first entered rehab in 2006.
“I can’t reiterate enough, I have lived a very blessed life, such great fortune and two extraordinary kids and a great family, deep friendships and a job that I’m passionate about,” Mr Farrell said.
“Success is such a relative term, I don’t wake up thinking I’ve made it, and fame doesn’t give you happiness.
“Having said all that I’m a human being, I have ups and downs, at 42 the process of my life seems to be in learning the significance of your life as an individual and we’re here for such a short time, I mean, Jesus, the show is nearly over.
“Let’s push away from the harbour and get this show on the road, live in less and less fear and not care as much.
And finally, Colin Farrell expertly dodges a question about his love life.@MiriamOCal: How's your love life?Collin Farrell: I LOVE life!#PendulumSummit pic.twitter.com/z7QqqudnDa
— Pendulum Summit (@PendulumSummit) January 9, 2019
“It’s important to care what each other think, it’s a form of social moderation, but we don’t have to do things for the sole purpose of being liked.”
During the on-stage interview, Farrell, who has been linked to a number of actresses and models, side-stepped the all-important question about his love life, replying: “Of course I love life.”