Idris Elba admits he's addicted to his work, and he's trying to change that.
The acclaimed actor who moonlights as a DJ revealed on a recent episode of the "Changes with Annie Macmanus" podcast that he's been going to therapy for the last year because he's "an absolute workaholic."
"It's not because I don't like myself or anything like that," he told Macmanus (at the 32:45 mark) on why he's decided to go to therapy. "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."
"Nothing that's too extreme is good, everything needs balance. But I'm rewarded massively to be a workaholic," he said, pointing out that success in his career has only encouraged him to work more. "Those are pathways that I had to be like, 'I've got to adjust.'"
Elba admits the problem is when he does have downtime, he's still working — he says he finds spending hours in his studio working on his music for his DJ gigs relaxing.
"My studio in my house, I just love being in here," he said. "I'll open that laptop and be like, 'I don't know what to make today,' and it'll come out like this or that. And I'm exhilarated by that and also so relaxed by it."
"I could work 10 days on a film, underwater sequences holding my breath for six minutes, and come back and sit in [the studio] and [feel relaxed], more so than sitting on the sofa with the family — which is bad right?" he said. "This is the part where I've got to normalize what makes me relaxed, it can't be all work."
