Tom Holland shares fears over Hollywood’s impact on lives: ‘It’s not for me’

Tom Holland has admitted that Hollywood is “not for me”.

The British actor has appeared in a number of box office smashes, including the Spider-Man film franchise and the 2022 Uncharted adaptation.

Appearing on the On Purpose podcast, Holland, 27, said that while he loved making films, he did not enjoy being in the Hollywood entertainment industry.

“Look, I really am a massive fan of making movies but I really do not like Hollywood, it is not for me,” he told host and life coach Jay Shetty.

“The business really scares me. I understand that I’m a part of that business, and I enjoy my kind of interactions with it. But that said, I am always looking for ways to kind of remove myself from it, to kind of just live as normal a life as possible.”

Holland admitted that some friends of his had “lost themselves” in the entertainment industry, which he was keen not to do.

“I definitely think it has been an ongoing thought, which is, ‘Don’t lose yourself,’” he said.

“I’ve seen so many people come before me and lose themselves, and I’ve had friends that I’ve grown up with that aren’t friends of mine anymore, because they’ve lost themselves to this business.”

Holland said he worried about ‘losing himself’ in the industry (Jay Shetty Podcast)

“I just am really, really keen to focus on what makes me happy… That’s the stuff that I should protect.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Holland spoke candidly about getting sober, admitting that he was “obsessed” with alcohol before cutting it out.

The Marvel star gave up drinking during Dry January – a month when people give up alcohol for a month after the festive period – after becoming “really worried” he had a problem.

“I didn’t one day wake up and say, ‘I’m giving up drinking,’” he said. “I just, like many Brits, had had a very, very boozy December. [It was] Christmas time, I was on vacation, I was drinking a lot and I’ve always been able to drink a lot.

“All I could think about was having a drink. That’s all I could think about. I was waking up thinking about it. I was checking the clock, ‘When’s it 12pm?’”

Holland continued: “It just really scared me. I just was like, ‘Wow. Maybe, maybe I have a little bit of an alcohol thing.’ So I sort of decided to punish myself and say, ‘I’ll do February as well. I’ll do two months off. If I can do two months off, then I can prove to myself that I don’t have a problem.’”

Holland found that, by the time he got to his self-imposed deadline, he was “the happiest I’ve ever been in my life”.