Simon Pegg details hiding his alcoholism on Mission: Impossible III set

“You become very sneaky when you have something like that in your life."

Mission: Impossible star Simon Pegg has revealed details of how he struggled with alcoholism during his time on set for franchise's third film. Speaking on the popular BBC show Desert Island Disks, the 53-year-old explained that his depression had led him to alcoholism, which he had to hide from co-workers. "On the set of Mission, I was there in the heart of where I always dreamed of being - I was on the Paramount lot, I was working with Tom [Cruise] and Ving Rhames and I was in this huge blockbuster film, and yet I was kind of in this terrible, panicky distressed state. "I couldn't figure out why, I was like 'what is this?'. And of course it was because I was depressed and I needed to address that and stop trying to take care of it myself in inadvisable ways. When you're depressed you just want to change how you feel." Pegg, who is known for starring alongside his acting partner Nick Frost in films like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, joined the franchise in 2006's Mission Impossible III as Benji Dunn, an IMF technician who assists Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt. He reprised the role in Ghost Protocol (2011), Rogue Nation (2015), and Fallout (2018).

Simon Pegg opened up on his battle with alcoholism.

[caption id="attachment_774026" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Pegg and acting partner Nick Frost (image via Getty)[/caption] The actor had previously opened up about what he calls his "crisis years", revealed in a Guardian interview in 2018 that he had suffered from depression since he was 18, but until 2005 had always dealt with it by self-medicating. He expanded on Desert Island Disks:

“You become very sneaky when you have something like that in your life. “You learn how to do it without anyone noticing because it takes over. It wants to sustain itself and it will do everything it can to not be stopped. But eventually it just gets to a point when it can’t be hidden, and that’s when, thankfully, I was able to pull out of the dive.

His nadir came while at Comic Con, promoting the 2011 movie Paul, alongside Frost.

"Tilly [Pegg's daughter] had been born - the most incredible thing in my life had happened and I still was like what's wrong with me why aren't I jumping for joy every day. I think it was all those things like 'this needs some serious evaluation.' And so I managed to get help and stop drinking and address why I was drinking and that was the turning point."

In the interview, Pegg also goes into detail about his "simple and amiable" friendship with Tom Cruise, saying that he mocks the star about his level of fame sometimes. "He kind of appreciates the ridiculousness of it sometimes." You can check out the full interview on the BBC website.

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