Idris Elba has revealed that he is in therapy to work through his “unhealthy habits.”
During an appearance on the “Changes with Annie Macmanus” podcast, the 51-year-old actor, who has labeled himself a “workaholic,” opened up about seeking therapy after developing some “unhealthy habits.”
“In my therapy, I’ve been thinking a lot about changing, almost to the point of neuropaths being changed and shifting (sic),” Idris Elba told the podcast host. “It’s not because I don’t like myself or anything like that, it’s just because I have some unhealthy habits that have just really formed.”
The Emmy Award winner explained that the film industry promotes an unhealthy work-life balance.
“I work in an industry that I am rewarded for those unhealthy habits,” Idris Elba stated. “I’m a workaholic. I’m an absolute workaholic. And that isn’t great for life, generally. Nothing that’s too extreme is good. Everything needs balance.”
The British actor added, “But I am rewarded massively to be a workaholic, to someone that can go, ‘I’m not going to see my family for six months.’ And I’m in there grinding and making a new family and then leave them.”
Idris noted that he has considered whether his struggles with work-life balance are linked to his childhood.
“Those are pathways that I had to be like, ‘I’ve got to adjust,’” he said. “So I’ve been thinking about this a lot and oddly enough a lot of our childhood is really at the root of it.”