Jonathan Rhys Meyers quits alcohol after mother’s death

Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 31, seemed to go into a tailspin after the untimely death of his mother. But now he says he has tamed his alcohol addiction inspired by the memory of his mother.
Jonathan’s mother Geraldine Meyers-O’Keeffe suffered a stroke in November (07), and Meyers turned to drink in a bid to cope with the news.  Jonathan who previously entered rehab in early 2007 to battle alcoholism was  arrested for drunken behavior at a Dublin, Ireland airport hours after his mother was stricken. She passed away unexpectedly two days later. Charges of public drunkenness and breach of the peace against Meyers were later dropped.
Jonathan now insists he has been sober ever since saying:
“I haven’t even thought about drinking since my mother passed away. Drinking is not the way forward for me at all. I never even drank till I was 25 anyway. I was in Thailand on my own, filming. I was a little bit lonely and I started drinking. Since I was 27 I must have been drunk maybe a dozen-and-a-half times – but when I do, I’m like Bambi. I’m all over the place, hopeless, like a 16-year-old kid. People notice. Now drink doesn’t fit into where I want to go. I want to do something useful with my life. Drinking is not synonymous with that. To be honest, I just leave it alone and hope people will, too, but I don’t really care. The whole drinking thing with me has been blown out of all proportion anyway.”

Belated happy birthday, Jonathan (July 27th, 1977)!

Source