Simon Pegg revealed that he hid his struggles with alcoholism while working on Mission: Impossible III, alongside Tom Cruise.
The actor said on a recent episode of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, via the Guardian, that “you become very sneaky when you have something like that [alcoholism] in your life.” He admitted that he hid a lot while working on film sets in the early 2000s.
The World’s End actor explained that he first started battling mental health issues as a teen, and then the feelings returned in 2006 while filming the J.J. Abrams-directed movie. Pegg recalled using alcohol to help get him through the emotional pain he was facing, but in 2009, the birth of his daughter forced him to seek recovery.
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“You learn how to do it without anyone noticing because it takes over. It wants to sustain itself and it will do everything it can to not be stopped,” he said on the radio program. “But eventually it just gets to a point when it can’t be hidden, and that’s when, thankfully, I was able to pull out of the dive.”
Pegg took on the role of IMF technician Benji Dunn in Mission: Impossible III and later went on to reprise the role in 2011’s Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol and 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.
The Hot Fuzz star also discussed his relationship with Cruise during the interview, saying it’s “just very simple and amiable.”
“It’s always been a very easy relationship,” he added. “I think you realize, when you meet the person rather than the thicket of mythology that’s built up around them, it’s a different experience. I mean, he loves [the fame] and he really relishes it, it’s all he knows. It energizes him and spurs him on.”
