Anthony Hopkins Marks 48 Years Of Sobriety With Motivational Video: 'Wishing Everyone A Healthy' 2024

Hollywood legend Sir Anthony Hopkins Is wishing everyone a happy New Year and celebrating his 48th year of being sober. He shared a heartfelt message to people struggling with addiction and encouraged them to seek help. Hundreds of fans and followers celebrated the actor and his sobriety journey.

This isn't the first time Hopkins has opened up about his sobriety and how it started out of desperation. He also previously recalled the moment he decided to become sober in 1975 and shared that Alcoholics Anonymous meetings saved him.

On Friday, Hopkins shared a video on Instagram wishing his fans and followers a happy New Year. In the same post, he announced that he's celebrating 48 years of alcohol and drug sobriety. The post showed 85-year-old Hopkins standing in a large room as he filmed the video.

In it, he said, "Hello there, Happy New Year to you all! All of you revelers and drinkers all having fun. Wonderful! Happy New Year! Have a great time. If you get a hangover, remember me. I don't get them anymore because 48 years ago today, I stopped. I got help for it, and my life changed. I don't envy you having fun out there."

Hopkins also encouraged people struggling with addiction to seek professional help. The "Silence of the Lambs" actor concluded with, "But if you need help, there's a time. Life is in session. Go for it."

Hopkins posted the video a few days before his 86th birthday, which is on December 31. The caption read, "Wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous 2024. One day at a time today, I am 48 years sober. Life is in session."

Hundreds of Hopkins' fans, celebrity friends, and followers filled the comment section with celebratory messages for his sobriety landmark and their own well wishes for the new year.

Actor Josh Brolin wrote, "You are THE MAN!!! Love ya. and Happy 48th!" And actress Melanie Griffith commented multiple white heart emojis.

One fan commented, "To 48 years of courage, resilience, and transformation. Your journey is a testament to the power of recovery. congratulations." Another wrote, "To 48 years of courage, resilience, and transformation. Your journey is a testament to the power of recovery. Congratulations!"

This isn't the first time Hopkins has spoken publicly about his years of sobriety. In an Instagram clip posted in 2022, he said, "I am a recovering alcoholic, and to you out there, I know there are people struggling in this day and age of cancel and hatred and non-compromise, children being bullied."

The "Legends of the Fall" continued by sharing encouraging words with addicts and bullying victims. He said, "I say to this: Be kind to yourself. Be kind. Stay out of the circle of toxicity with people if they offend you. Live your life. Be proud of your life."

Hopkins also recalled that just before he decided to stop drinking, he had a "desperate situation, in despair…" He said, "But I didn't realize that it was a kind of condition, mental, physical, emotional condition called alcoholism or addiction."

During a 2020 interview with The New York Times, Hopkins reflected on his decision to stay sober in 1975. He said that it started after he woke up in a hotel in Arizona and had no recollection of his day or how he got there.

"I thought, 'Well, I've got to stop this because I'm either going to kill somebody or myself.' My life, from that moment on, took on new meaning," Hopkins stated.

In 2021, the "Hannibal" actor also revealed to the Sunday Times Magazines that attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings saved him. Since the day of the very first meeting, the award-winning actor said: "[I] haven't drunk since and nor have I felt the urge to."

He also said, "When I asked for help and I realized I wasn't alone, that there were thousands of people like me, all my fears began to dissolve. The boozing is over and done with but I'm not a goody-goody. In the old days I would be hanging out at bars, getting smashed and blacking out. Now I'm happy being on my own."