"Could have killed someone" The day actor Anthony Hopkins gave up drinking
Actor Anthony Hopkins unpacks candidly in his autobiography "We Did Ok, Kid". The two-time Oscar winner writes about his estrangement from his only child, infidelities and alcoholism.
11.11.2025, 14:12
12.11.2025, 10:42
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- Actor Anthony Hopkins takes stock in his autobiography "We Did Ok, Kid" and writes about weaknesses and low points.
- Alcohol played a major role in the life of the now 87-year-old for a long time. The turning point came almost 50 years ago.
- One Saturday evening, he was driving drunk through Beverly Hills. "I could have killed someone. I could have wiped out an entire family," writes Hopkins.
Anthony Hopkins takes stock at the age of 87 and doesn't sugarcoat anything. In his autobiography "We Did Ok, Kid", the two-time Oscar winner candidly admits to the weaknesses and low points in his life.
Alcohol played a role for a long time and giving up drinking took years. The turning point came almost 50 years ago.
One Saturday night, he was drunk and driving through Beverly Hills in a blackout. "I could have killed someone. I could have wiped out an entire family," writes Hopkins.
When he sobered up, he heard a voice asking him: "Do you want to live or die?" At eleven o'clock on December 29, 1975, he gave up alcohol and told his agent that he was an alcoholic and needed help. Even today, he would still go to meetings of the Alcoholics Anonymous self-help group.
Alienation from his only child
Anthony Hopkins also writes about his estrangement from his only child, daughter Abigail, from his short-lived first marriage to the actress Petronella Barker. He left the family in the fall of 1969, just over a year after the girl was born.
His drinking and his depression had contributed to the breakdown of the marriage, writes the actor. It was "the saddest part" of his life and the thing he regrets most of all is that he didn't keep in touch at the time. He later tried in vain to win his daughter back. "I will always be sorry that I hurt her."
In over 380 pages, Hopkins looks back on his eventful life, from his childhood as the son of a baker in Wales to his retirement home in California. It is an exciting, touching read, thanks to the deeply personal reflections of the greying Hollywood star.
Accompanying a photo of himself as a three-year-old with his father on a beach in Wales, the actor writes that he wants to say to this little boy: "We did okay, kid." At the same time, the star admits that the "strange feeling of being lost or not getting along" has accompanied him throughout his life.
Parents thought Anthony was a "hopeless case"
He was a loner, unpopular with his classmates and a bad student. Even his parents thought he was a "hopeless case" at the time, but he wanted to prove them wrong.
Hopkins describes a film screening at his school of "Hamlet" (1948) with Laurence Olivier in the lead role as a "supernatural experience". This awakened his enthusiasm for Shakespeare and acting.
At the age of 17, he was awarded a scholarship in Wales, after which he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In the theater, he earned a reputation as a character actor - as "King Lear" alone, he appeared on stage countless times. He had his first film role in 1968 in "The Lion in Winter" as the young Richard the Lionheart alongside Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole.
Hopkins first came to Hollywood for filming with Goldie Hawn in "The Girl from Petrovka" (1974). "I was in paradise", he describes his enthusiasm for "the bright sun and all the madness there". With his role as a doctor in David Lynch's black-and-white drama "The Elephant Man" (1980), the Brit continued to gain a foothold in Hollywood.
"The Silence of the Lambs" - the role of a lifetime
"Is this a children's movie?" he asked his agent when he received an offer for "The Silence of the Lambs", writes Anthony Hopkins. Then he read the script and immediately knew: "This role will change my life."
He only appears on screen for 16 minutes in the psychological thriller by director Jonathan Demme, but that was enough.
The duel between the psychopathic Hannibal Lecter and the steadfast FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) made film history. Hopkins won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 1992.
His recipe for success: he did not play Lecter as a monster but, contrary to all expectations, as a quiet, polite man.
The role of the dutiful butler in the drama "What Remains of the Day" (1993) earned him another Oscar nomination, as did his portrayal of the US president in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995) and his supporting role in Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Amistad" (1997). At the 2020 Oscars, he was nominated for a supporting role in "The Two Popes".
Second Oscar at an advanced age
Things are only going well professionally. After 25 years together, his second marriage to British actress Jennifer Lynton broke up. Anthony Hopkins confesses in his memoirs that he messed up the relationship, partly through infidelities. "I could have been a better man, but I wasn't."
It was only his third wife who managed to crack his "rhinoceros shell" and bring him out of his loneliness, the actor writes. The dedication in his book - "With love for Stella" - is addressed to Colombian-born Stella Arroyave.
He married the antiques dealer in California in 2003. She also helped him to rediscover his old passion for painting and to seek out dialog with young actors to give them tips.
These encounters helped him to shed any remaining bitterness and anger and show more emotion, Hopkins sums up. He attributes his second Oscar to this experience.
He was only able to play the role of the man with dementia in "The Father" in all its vulnerability because the students taught him to open up more. Hopkins shone in the drama as a proud, stubborn man who is visibly succumbing to his dementia.
In April 2021, he won his second Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the age of 83. Never before had an actor older at the time of the award won this prize.
