The ‘Winter’s Tale’ actor talks about getting clean and how he has ditched his ladies’ man ways.
Colin Farrell has been sober for eight years, but he still remembers how tough it was to change his wild-child ways.
“I worried I wouldn’t be able to talk, full stop,” the “Winter’s Tale” actor said, when asked by Elle magazine whether he could talk to women after getting clean. “I hadn’t uttered a word sober in about 15 years.”
The difficulties extended beyond making conversation, the Irish celeb revealed in the magazine’s March issue.
“I made love to a woman about two and a half years after I got clean, and it was one of the most terrifying moments of my life,” he said. “It was in the afternoon. The windows and the curtains were open. It was lovely, and, to be crass, it wasn’t f–ing. She was very gentle. But it was terrifying. Because I was just used to drunkenness and dark rooms and clubs and toilets and wherever.”
Farrell, 37, had a reputation as a ladies’ man earlier on his career after being linked to the likes of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.
He even had a few memorable nights at the Playboy mansion when he first moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s. The “Tigerland” star told Elle that he had been to Hugh Hefner’s famous abode twice in his life, describing it as “a rite of passage.”
“But it kind of came back to haunt me,” he added, referring to former girlfriend, Playboy model Nicole Narain, who he accused of trying to distribute a sex tape the two had made in 2003.
Farrell was offered $5 million for the 14-minute video, but he and Narain reached a confidential settlement in 2006 to block its sale and distribution – but the video still turned up online.
“The whole thing was horrifying,” he added. “I was deposed for four hours explaining why I didn’t want it to be released. God forbid it’s an On Demand movie in a hotel room and my mother says, ‘Oh, I haven’t seen this work of my son’s,’ and hits purchase.”
Farrell, a single father of two, joked that he is now “just trying to weed out the gold-diggers.”
As for future love and marriage, he said, “For me, I don’t know if it’s possible. But I certainly do believe in monogamy. I don’t believe that it’s for everyone.”
But when asked if he could ever fall in love with a woman who wasn’t a fan of his movies, Farrell said he could “for sure.”
“I needed to learn to love myself while not loving my movies,” he said. “I would never hold that against anyone.”