This post contains discussion of substance abuse and mental health issues.
If you’re a fan of the Mission: Impossible franchise, you’re very familiar with Simon’s performance as Benji Dunn.
Simon hasn’t starred in every film in the series. He joined the franchise for 2006’s Mission: Impossible III.
During a recent episode of BBC’s Desert Island Discs radio program, Simon revealed that during the production of Mission: Impossible III, he began to struggle with alcoholism.
Simon explained that he experienced mental health issues while working on the film, which led him to use alcohol as a coping mechanism.
“ become very sneaky when you have something like that in your life,” Simon explained while discussing how he tried to hide his struggle — until he was no longer able to.
“ learn how to do it without anyone noticing because it takes over,” he said. “It wants to sustain itself, and it will do everything it can to not be stopped.”
“But eventually, it just gets to a point when it can’t be hidden, and that’s when, thankfully, I was able to pull out of the dive.”
Simon went on to explain that the birth of his child Matilda in 2009 helped him enter recovery, and that’s a beautiful thing right there.
Listen to Simon’s interview here.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.
