Barry Keoghan says he’s an addict.
Barry Keoghan: ‘I’m an addict’
The 32-year-old actor – who tragically lost his mother to heroin addiction 20 years ago – opened up in a new interview where he revealed he has accepted that he is also an addict but he is determined to “move on and learn to work with it”.
Speaking to Hollywood Authentic, Barry said: “I’m not in denial anymore. I understand that I do have an addiction, and I am an addict. You know, when you accept that, you finally can move on, and learn to work with it.
“My father passed away as a result of similar and I lost my mum to it. I’ve lost two uncles and a cousin to drugs. That should be enough to go, ‘OK, if I dabble here, I’m f*****.’.”
Barry – who has a two-year-old son Brando with ex-girlfriend Alyson Kierans – admitted that he found the temptations in Hollywood too hard to resist, despite his family history.
He said: “But your curiosity is a powerful thing. Sometimes it’s beneficial, and sometimes it’s detrimental. For me, it was detrimental. Even my own son coming into this world didn’t stop me from being curious. You know, you go to LA, you go to Hollywood, wherever the big scene is. There’s an enormous amount of pressure, and a different lifestyle that is good and bad for you. You’re around the scene. You just happen to be the one that ends up doing it.
“I’ve got scars here to literally prove it. They’re a result of using. I’m at peace now, and responsible for everything that I do. I’m accepting. I’m present. I’m content. I’m a father. I’m getting to just see that haze that was once there – it’s just a bit sharper now, and colourful.’ I feel like I’ve arrived. I apologise, too, mainly to myself more than anything else for all the pain I’ve put people and myself through.”
Barry also spoke about witnessing his own mother’s battle with addiction and his hopes that his son will never have to see the same with him.
He said: “I remember being kids here and hearing my mum scream through the letterbox, asking for us, while she’s battling addiction, while she’s looking for money to score. And we were just told to stay in bed. We weren’t to go down and hug her.’ His honesty and pain brings tears to my eyes and I tell him so. I can’t imagine my own child going through this.”
