Idris Elba shares he spent a year in therapy battling 'unhealthy habits'

02 October 2023 , 19:58

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Idris Elba shares he spent a year in therapy battling 'unhealthy habits'

Hollywood star Idris Elba said he spent a year in therapy working on 'unhealthy habits' as a 'workaholic.' The 51-year-old confessed he needed to improve on his work-life balance despite being 'massively rewarded' for his hard work and commitment to the industry.

He shared that he once found himself working for 10 days straight on a gruelling film set and spent his downtime relaxing in his studio rather than being with his family. Speaking on the Changes podcast, Idris said he hopes to change his habits but does not want to cut down on his workload.

The Luther actor said: 'I've been in therapy for about a year now. It's a lot. In my therapy, I've been thinking a lot about changing, almost to the point of neuropaths (sic) being changed and shifting. It's not because I don't like myself or anything like that, it's just because I have some unhealthy habits that have really formed. And I work in an industry that I'm rewarded for those unhealthy habits, I'm rewarded for that.

Idris is best-known for his role on Luther (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Idris and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba (Getty Images for The Met Museum/)

He continued to tell host Annie Macmanus: 'Whether it's to be selfish, or [because] I'm a workaholic. I'm an absolute workaholic, and that isn't great for life generally. Nothing that's too extreme is good, everything needs balance, but I'm rewarded massively to be a workaholic [compared] to someone that's like "er, I'm not going to see my family for six months" and I'm in there grinding and making a new family and leave them. Those are pathways that I had to be like, "I've got to adjust". So I've been thinking about this a lot and oddly enough a lot of our childhood is really at the root of it.'

Asked if he wants to work less by the former Radio 1 DJ, Elba replied: 'Work less? Come on.' He revealed he felt more his work 'relaxed' when he is busy on the set of a TV show or film and coming home without any plans. "The thing is, the things that make me relaxed end up being work. My studio in my house, I just love being in here. I'll open that laptop and be like 'I don't know what to make today' and it'll come out like this or that. And I'm exhilarated by that and also so relaxed by it.

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Elba has an older son and also has a daughter Isan and a son Winston, whom he had with previous partners. In 2019, he married his third wife, Canadian model Sabrina Dhowre. He rose to fame when he appeared in the hit show The Wire in 2002 playing gangster Stringer Bell. He also starred in The US Office and fronted the BBC detective series Luther.

Ayaan Ali