Colin Farrell’s son James had a part to play in his sobriety journey.
The now-21-year-old has Angelman syndrome, and the actor called his child’s diagnosis “fuel” in choosing to abstain from drugs and alcohol.
“James was 2 when I got sober,” the “Total Recall” star, 48, told Daily Mail in an interview published Friday.
That same year, James was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome, which is a rare neuorgenetic disorder that affects the nervous system and causes developmental and intellectual disabilities.
“Part of the fuel that I used to get off alcohol and drugs and all that stuff was knowing he had health issues,” Farrell recalled. “All children need their parents — or a parent or grandparent or somebody — to care for them.
“One of the things James taught me was to access within myself a desire to live, even if it was initially more about me thinking I wanted to live to be around for him,” he continued.
Farrell, who is also the father of 15-year-old son Henry, went on to tell the outlet that he drank an estimated three bottles of Jack Daniels, 12 bottles of red wine and 60 pints of beer per week before sobering up.
In December 2022, the Golden Globe winner explained to Variety that he was “stopping what has been a generational issue in [his] biological family.”
He called sobriety his “legacy,” explaining, “Generations of people have had their lives ruled and ruined by alcoholism and drug addiction. For me, sobriety first. Always.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Farrell noted that he didn’t know “how painful life could be” until he stopped drinking.
The Oscar nominee sought treatment for the first time in 2005, most recently returning to rehab in 2018.
“He’s been sober 12 years and wanted to do this to make sure he stays that way,” People reported at the time. “He’s taking some me-time and doing a tune-up and a reset. This was all his idea.”
The following year, he confessed to the UK Mirror that he was once so hungover while filming a movie that he needed to deliver his line 56 times.
“It was a rough night and I didn’t get any sleep,” he said in 2019 of filming “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise. “The line was, ‘I’m sure you’ve all grasped the fundamental paradoxical pre-crime methodology.’”
Farrell’s latest comments about his eldest son’s role in his sobriety come on the heels of his and James’ People cover story.
In the profile, Farrell gushed about life with his and ex Kim Bordenave’s “magic” child.