Ewan McGregor Was a "Maniac on the Booze"

Ewan McGregor admits to being a maniac on booze, but is now 12 years sober. The Star Wars: Phantom Menace actor—who just turned 40—has been reminiscing about his past battles with the bottle. “I got away with it more or less unnoticed,” he says. “I was a maniac on the booze but I only remember it fondly.” After starring in Trainspotting back in 1996, McGregor transformed himself into a poster boy of the Britpop era. He recalls hanging with the likes of Oasis and Damon Albarn—and passing out in rooms across the country. McGregor had an eye-opening moment after an encounter with Iggy Pop, whom he ironically played in the film Velvet Goldmine. “He was playing at this Versace fashion show I’d been invited to, so I went backstage to meet him. But I was blootered by that point,” he recalls. “I came to my senses when something in my brain went, ‘What are you doing?’ He was just sitting there looking at me while I was dancing away, doing my Iggy Pop impersonation to Iggy Pop. It was one of the more embarrassing moments of my life.” The sober star refers to his drinking days as “massive debauchery," but still sees his struggles as part of a valuable journey: “Your experience of life is what makes you who you are.”