Simon Pegg is reminiscing about his days on the set of "Mission: Impossible III," some of which were spent drunk.
While chatting with the "Headstrong" podcast, the actor said he realized he had an alcohol problem while filming the Tom Cruise-led franchise in 2006.
"I remember being stuck in this hotel room in Beverly Hills. I would drink a lot. I drank my whole mini-bar because I wanted to not feel that way," he said. "By the time I came on set to do my scenes I was kind of a wreck because I was super-anxious and I'd been drinking."
The drinking, he said, didn't exactly make him happier in the long run.
"All those fixes are so temporary, they don't solve the problem they just dam it up," he said. "When I knew I was in trouble I just kicked the can down the street by having a pint. It's not the way to go."
Soon after filming the third installment of "Mission: Impossible," Simon sought help.
"Having admitted I have a problem and being there to solve it was a great relief," he said. "I came out a better person, that's not to suggest I was fixed in any way, but it certainly gave me the tools to know how to cope."
This isn't the first time the 51-year-old has spoken about his drinking. He once told GQ about a "bleak" evening by himself.
"I got to the point where I was sitting on the sidewalk in downtown San Diego having lost my phone and eating pizza and it was just so bleak," he said. "When I got home, [wife] Maureen just knew I had been drinking and it was bad. I knew then I needed to get help."
Once he got sober, Simon's life began getting better.
"What I found was that as soon as I stopped, things started to go my way. It's a strange thing and I have had conversations with other people about this, that when you quit drinking the universe starts to give back to you a little bit," he said. "Maybe it's because I figured out why I was drinking, which was to combat the depression and so I was able to get on top of what was the real issue. I spoke to people and got proper help."