Ashley Walters, 42, reflects on 'isolating' battle with alcoholism and admits he 'thought it would cure the biggest problem he had' as he poses shirtless for Men's Health UK shoot

Daily Mail​

8 hours ago

Ashley Walters has reflected on his 'isolating' struggles with alcohol, as he posed for a shirtless shoot with Men's Health UK.
As well as being the magazine's July/August cover star, the actor, 42, spoke about his journey to getting sober in 2020, after a 15-year struggle with alcohol addiction.
Ashley, who recently earned critical praise for his role in Netflix 's Adolescence, shared how he first began using alcohol as a way to improve his social skills.
He said: 'I would be in a group of people and be looking at everyone and wondering how they could communicate so wonderfully, and I don't have the ability to do that.
'I was always looking at everyone else like, what manual for life did you get that I didn't? How come I didn't get the memo?
'It started off with me trying to become a person that could talk to girls like my friends could or bust a joke with the mandem like my friends could…
'People may not like me saying it, but for a minute alcohol was the cure to the biggest problem that I felt I had.
'But the thing is, alcohol or drugs' main aim is to isolate you. Its main aim is to take everything away from you, so it has you by yourself and then at that point, it tries to kill you.'
Reflecting on his lengthy battle with addiction, the Top Boy star added: 'Alcoholism is a disease. I didn't realise until I got some professional help that it centres in the mind.
'It's not the drug or drink of choice that's the issue. The easy part is to stop consuming alcohol, or whatever.
'The hard part is dealing with the problem in your head.
'But if you don't remedy that part, you're always going to end up going back to drinking because that problem still exists.'
Ashley went onto share that since getting sober, he challenges himself in various social situations, without using alcohol as a vice.
He added: 'I turn up now and force myself into situations that I probably would have shied away from before just to test how good I am at striking up conversations or being around people…
'I've met some amazing people that I know for a fact I wouldn't have [met when drinking]. I would have been s***ting myself.
'I sat down with Michael B Jordan a couple of weeks ago and we had an amazing conversation for an hour…
'To be able to sit down, laugh and joke naturally with someone I look up to, even though I'm a bit older, feels good. It's a marker of how far I've come.'
Ashley recently earned critical praise for his performance as detective DI Luke Bascombe in Adolescence.
The four-part series received critical acclaim when it hit the streaming service in March, and centres on a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a schoolgirl.
In the show, viewers saw how teen Jamie Miller's perception of girls had been radicalised through content he was viewing online, and also showed the vast amount of social media consumed by teenagers at school.
And Ashley went onto share that realisations while filming the show have led him to curtail his youngest son's screen time.
He added: '[As parents] we're really about uplifting and pushing the things that they love. He's an animator, so he has a lot of animation software on his iPad and spends his time doing that.
'But sometimes, he's not animating when we think he is. We've been very conscious about that and drawing back on his screen time.
'Half the week, he can't even touch his device. And then actually, it's about me stepping in as a dad and saying, ''Let's go fishing, let's do more stuff,'' so he doesn't want to be on there as much as he is.'
'No one wants to be the ogre parent that comes in and goes, 'All right, that's it, everything off.'
'I don't want them to feel like they're not the same as their friends. You get caught up in all of that stuff as a parent, but I feel like around the world this show has allowed parents, to go, ''Fu*k that s**t.
'Adolescence says this could happen. Now we're going to start having this conversation.'' I think that's a good thing.'
MailOnline revealed last month that star Owen Cooper would be entered in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as murder suspect Jamie Miller in the show that has become one of Netflix's most-watched series ever.
Experts hailed the 'genius move' of placing Cooper in Supporting, as opposed to Best Actor, which they said would massively boost his chances of winning.
Adolescences's four episodes, all filmed in one continuous take, explore the influence of online misogyny and incel culture - with Sir Keir Starmer calling for the series to be shown in schools.
The series also sparked frenzied speculation that there could be a second season in the works, but star Ashley said this only seems likely if it follows a new story.
He added: 'I'd love to, but I strongly believe that it will be completely different characters with a completely different story. I think that the constant will be the one-take process.'
The full interview is available in the July/August issue of Men's Health UK, on sale from 24th June.