Is Idris Elba OK? 'Luther' fame gets candid about unhealthy habits he wishes to get rid of
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Idris Elba got candid about some of the unhealthy habits that he is hoping to get rid of.
The English actor appeared on the latest episode of 'Changes with Annie Macmanus' podcast and disclosed some of the problems he’s working on in therapy, People reports.
“I've been in therapy for about a year now. It's a lot,” the 51-year-old began. “In my therapy, I've been thinking a lot about changing, almost to the point of neuropaths [sic] being changed and shifting,” he adds.
“It's not because I don't like myself or anything like that, it's just because I have some unhealthy habits that have really formed,” he says, adding “And I work in an industry that I'm rewarded for those unhealthy habits.”
Idris Elba called himself 'an absolute workaholic'
The actor, best known for his work on the television series 'The Wire' and 'Luther', calls himself “an absolute workaholic” which he admits is not great for his life and overall well-being.
“Nothing that's too extreme is good, everything needs balance, but I'm rewarded massively to be a workaholic [compared] to someone that's like ‘Eh, I'm not going to see my family for six months’ and I'm in there grinding and making a new family and leave them,” he explains, adding “Those are pathways that I had to be like, ‘I've got to adjust.’”
“So I've been thinking about this a lot and oddly enough a lot of our childhood is really at the root of it,” the actor adds.
Idris Elba wants to find time for himself
Elba says that through his therapy, he “definitely wants to” work on taking time for himself and finding activities that relax him. However, he is facing difficulties with the task.
“The thing is, the things that make me relaxed end up being work,” he says, adding “My studio in my house, I just love being in here. 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 [his studio] and [feel relaxed], more so than sitting on the sofa with the family — which is bad right? This is the part where I've got to normalize what makes me relaxed, it can't be all work," he says.