When you watch someone like actor Simon Pegg on screen, it’s hard to imagine that someone so funny and charming could be battling real demons off camera. However, in a new interview with The Guardian, not only do we find out just how Pegg has dealt with alcoholism and depression but also how it’s been a surprisingly long amount of time.
“I would feel like – I’m in a film with Tom Cruise, I’ve got the part of Scotty in ‘Star Trek.’ This should be making me feel happy,” he says. “But it wasn’t.”
According to Pegg’s interview, the actor has always struggled with depression. However, instead of seeking help and trying to find preferred ways of handling it, he turned to alcohol, with disastrous results. He says he started to realize it was all unraveling when he began production on “Mission: Impossible III” in 2006.
“When I watch that film back, I can see where I was then, which was fairly lost, and unhappy, and an alcoholic,” he says. Of course, fans wouldn’t really be able to notice. Pegg had gotten good at keeping his addiction a secret. “Because I hid it,” he says. “I’m an actor, so I acted … all the fucking time.”
When asked what would have happened if he didn’t seek help, the actor was brutally honest. “I don’t think I would be here now if I hadn’t had help,” admitted Pegg.
Even though Pegg had become great at hiding his issues, the press was always on top of it. When the actor had gone through one of his multiple trips to rehab, he describes having to pay money to keep his name and situation out of the tabloids.
“They were sinking so low as to phoning up where I was and pretending to be my mother to get the story,” he says. “I’m not ashamed of what happened. And I think if anyone finds any relationship to it, then it might motivate them to get well. But I am not proud of it either – I don’t think it’s cool, like I was Mr. Rock’n’roll, blackout and all that shit. It wasn’t, it was just terrible.”
Things started to turn around for Pegg, ironically enough, as he was filming “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” in 2011. He says that if you’re a keen viewer, you can actually see his look improve over the course of the film. “We always laugh about it when we watch the movie. Try it! You’ll be like: ‘Fuck, he’s got cheekbones suddenly!’” he says.
The Guardian’s interview is full of all sorts of fun anecdotes and stories, but other than his addiction, the topic of working with Tom Cruise was mentioned. As we’ve discussed, Pegg and Cruise have teamed up for four ‘M:I’ films over the last 12 years, and have developed a friendship. But don’t go thinking Simon Pegg will become the latest Scientology convert.
“I have never discussed his beliefs with him, for example,” Pegg says. “Everyone always asks: ‘Did he try and convert you? Is it all Scientology?’ But I’ve never seen that. I have glimpsed it a little bit – people from the church have been on set now and again, but he doesn’t proselytize about it.”
“Obviously part of me wants to go: ‘What the fuck is that all about?’” he laughed.
Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg team up next for “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” which hits theaters on July 27.