In an interview with The Sun, Al Pacino opened up about his drinking problem at the beginning of his career.

The actor’s parents divorced when he was only two years old and his father left so he was raised by his mother Rose and grandparents Kate and James Gelardi.

When Al was 22, his mother died and just one year later his grandfather passed away too. That was the time when Pacino was becoming more and more popular and he didn’t have any family to give him support and help him cope with fame, so the actor turned to alcohol.

He said: “I was not prepared for fame. It hit me hard and I did not have the capacity to cope. I’ve never liked the recognition, the questions, the publicity. I have often felt like running away and hiding. There has been a lot of self-doubt and unwelcome events in my life. I started drinking more and more. At first, it was part of the territory – part of the acting culture. There’s a pattern in drinking. It can lead to other things, like a downward spiral. I joined Alcoholics Anonymous for a while. I did stop drinking. Not immediately. But I did stop.”

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