Tom Holland Reveals He’s Sober, Learned His “Triggers” Filming New TV Show

For a year and four months, Tom Holland has been newly sober and has learned some of his own “triggers” while filming the Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room, the actor told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview.

In the upcoming series, which premieres June 9, Holland stars as a man whose sanity is questioned when he’s accused of crimes he did not commit. “Learning about mental health and the power of it, and speaking to psychiatrists about Danny’s struggles, has been something that has been so informative to my own life,” the 26-year-old, who is currently dating his Spider-Man costar Zendaya, explained.

“I’m no stranger to the physical aspects of the job, doing the whole action-movie thing,” Holland continued. “But the mental aspect, it really beat me up, and it took a long time for me to recover afterward, to sort of get back to reality.”

Nine months into filming the show, Holland said he struggled to separate his own identity from that of his character’s. “I was seeing myself in him, but in my personal life. I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking, like, ‘I’m going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character,’” he revealed. “And obviously, we were mid-shooting, so I decided not to. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”

After his experience meeting with psychiatrists for the role and getting sober in his own life, Holland said he hopes viewers “have more respect and more sympathy for people who are going through mental health issues,” adding, “I hope that people will feel educated about the powers of mental health, the struggles, [and] our incredible abilities to survive.”