Idris Elba reveals he’s undergone therapy due to his “workaholic” tendencies
From leading the movie spin-off of his hugely popular Luther series to appearing in the critically acclaimed new Phantom Liberty expansion for CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 game, 2023 has seen British actor Idris Elba work prolifically.
However, the man himself has revealed that he’s actually been in therapy for the last year after developing what he believes to be “unhealthy habits” and attitudes towards acting.
Speaking on the Changes With Annie Macmanus podcast, Elba explained, “I’ve been in therapy the last… about a year now. It’s a lot, right? In my therapy, I’ve been thinking a lot about changing… like neuropaths being shifted. It’s not because I don’t like myself or anything like that.”
“It’s just because I have some unhealthy habits that have really formed. And I work in an industry that I’m rewarded for those unhealthy habits. I’m rewarded for them. I’m an absolute workaholic. And that isn’t great for life, generally.”
Elba confessed there were moments when he felt more relaxed working on set than being with his family and acknowledged that the nature of acting jobs requiring him to be away for months at a time only repeated the cycle.
“Nothing that’s too extreme is good; everything needs balance,” the actor said before touching upon how the film industry condones such obsessive behaviour. “But I’m rewarded massively to be a workaholic. Those are pathways that I had to be like, ‘I’ve got to adjust.'”
Elba’s last feature film project was a cameo for Netflix’s sequel to the Chris Hemsworth vehicle Extraction; however, it is his performance in the recently released Phantom Liberty as Solomon Reed that has critics praising the actor.
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