Barry Keoghan is coming to terms with his addiction.
The actor, 32, revealed in a Hollywood Authentic profile that he struggled with a drug addiction during his rise to fame in the early 2020s, when he appeared in films like The Banshees of Inisherin, Saltburn, The Batman, and Marvel’s Eternals.
However, Keoghan says he’s now working to “move on” from his addiction, a condition he shares with most of his immediate family.
“I’m not in denial anymore,” Keoghan told Hollywood Authentic. “I understand that I do have an addiction, and I am an addict. You know, when you accept that, you finally can move on and learn to work with it.”
The admission comes just over three years after Keoghan was arrested for public intoxication in Dublin. He was later released without charges and issued a fine.
The actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for The Banshees of Inisherin, reflected on his rocky childhood, during which Keoghan and his brother lived in foster care before moving in with their grandmother.
Keoghan‘s mother, Debbie, died in 2003 when he was 12 after several years of battling a drug addiction. The actor said his father also died as “a result of similar” and that he’d lost two uncles and a cousin to drug-related causes. According to Keoghan, his brother also recently received treatment for addiction.
“That should be enough to go, ‘Ok, if I dabble here, I’m f—ed,’” Keoghan said of losing so many relatives to addiction. “But your curiosity is a powerful thing.”
The actor, whose big break came in Christopher Nolan‘s 2017 war epic Dunkirk, said that moving to Hollywood only exacerbated the issue, as his newfound celebrity was “an enormous amount of pressure.”
Keoghan said that even after his own son, Brando, was born in 2022, he still struggled to stay away from drugs. He separated from Brando’s mother, Alyson Kierans, in 2023.
The Eternals star later dated Sabrina Carpenter in 2024. He began an abrupt social media hiatus after their split in December as rumors of infidelity swirled. Keoghan later took to X to slam the “absolute lies, hatred, [and] disgusting commentary” he’d received on Instagram before deactivating his account.
Beyond discussing his traumatic past, Keoghan also showed off the physical scars he accumulated while experiencing addiction, including a large, winding mark along his right arm.
While the actor didn‘t share details about his treatment or recovery, he said he’s now “at peace” with his addiction and that he’s apologized “mainly to myself more than anything else for all the pain I’ve put people and myself through.
“[I’m] responsible for everything I do,” Keoghan added. “I‘m accepting. I’m present. I’m a father. I’m getting to just see that haze that was once there—it’s a bit sharper now, and colorful.”
The post ‘Saltburn’ Star Reveals Battle With Drug Addiction After Losing Parents appeared first on The Daily Beast.
