Bobby Deol has been receiving appreciation for his turn as a menacing villain in Animal (2023). While fans praised the actor for his performances in Class of ‘83 (2020) and the web series Aashram, he has admitted that there was a time where he did not get work. Reflecting on that difficult period, the actor shared that he had turned to alcoholism to cope.

“In my low phase, little did I know that I’d drown in alcohol. I was torturing myself and my family was worried,” Deol told Humans of Bombay, adding, “But the last straw [for me] was the thought of my kids — what kind of father was I being to them as an alcoholic? Something snapped within me and I was like, ‘No I need to get out of this’.”

The 55-year-old elaborated: “It’s just that you had to go through all those things and you had to come out of it. No one can hold your hand... It’s like you are growing and people let themselves drown. I think everybody can swim out of it.”

Deol also credited his wife Tania for being his biggest pillar of support and called her “the best thing that happened to me”.

“I honestly feel if it’d be someone else they would have left me by now. [Tania] always believed in me. She is just amazing. I always tell her, ‘You have three boys (referring to himself and sons Aryaman and Dharam) and I behave like the youngest’,” he quipped.