Sam Worthington reveals wife’s ultimatum got him sober from ‘out of control’ addiction

Sam Worthington opened up in an extensive interview with Variety about the time how he lost everything, including his wife and career, to alcohol.

Following the success of the 2009’s Avatar, the actor shared that he had been consuming copious amount of alcohol on a daily basis. He added that it was commonplace for him down four or five glasses of champagne while idling at the gate before a first-class flight.

His wife, Lara Bingle, had once pointed to him during a flight that she’d never seen anyone drink so much before the plane even took off. “I couldn’t see it,” Worthington recalled. “I thought it was normal.”

He added, “I didn’t like who I was. Drinking helped me get through the day.”

Moreover, he revealed that his addiction to alcohol was so out of control that he remembered cities he visited around the world not by their local landmarks but by his favourite bars in those cities, via Entertainment Tonight.

“Nine out of ten people couldn't tell,” he said. “They could probably smell it on me, but when they looked at me, they couldn't tell. I was still doing my job — I just don't think I was doing it very well.”

Alcohol made Worthington erratic, jeopardised his career, and nearly ended his relationship. Moreover, it could have cost him his life. “I'd go haywire over someone asking me for a photograph or taking a photograph of me,” the actor shared. “If someone approached me, my anxiety would go through the roof.”

The Avatar actor was arrested for punching a photographer in 2014, and would get upset when fans got close, via People.

However, it wasn’t until his wife, Lara Bingle, gave him an ultimatum to stop. "You can do what you want, but I don't need to be around this," she told him.

And that was the catalyst it took to bring Worthington back from the brink.

The couple are now parents to Rocket, 7, Racer, 6, and their younger brother, River.

Now, eight years sober, Worthington is in a much better place as he reprises his role as Jake Sully in Avatar: The Way of Water releasing on December 16, 2022.