Al Pacino details struggles with alcohol and road to sobriety in CBS interview

Al Pacino is one of Hollywood's most recognised faces. The actor, 84, has reportedly been sober since 1977. Photo / Getty Images

Al Pacino had a “terrible” struggle with alcoholism.

The Godfather actor, 84, turned to the bottle to cope with the glare of global fame, but has been sober for decades after kicking the habit in 1977 as he’d begun experiencing frightening blackouts following his booze binges.

He has now told CBS News: “Alcohol is a depressant – like, literally it brings you down.”

”[My drinking] got a little worse for a while. It really was terrible. But then, eventually, thank God, it got there.”

Pacino has spent the decades since kicking the drink immersing himself in his work – and said he is now busier than ever, despite his age.

He added: “I like sitting on the couch. But I keep working. I’ve got six films. Smaller roles, of course. And they haven’t come out yet.”

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in a scene from the 1972 film The Godfather.

Despite the actor being a Hollywood icon, he said he feels alienated by Tinseltown.

Regarding him not being an “LA guy”, he said: “No. I don’t think so. I still speak English. In LA, they speak Hollywood!”

Pacino also said finding fame in movies meant nothing to him compared to his love for theatre.

With respect to his feeling of a massive high from treading the boards on Broadway, he added: “I’m never gonna do anything else but this. I have found it. I don’t care what happens to me, whether I succeed, not succeed – didn’t matter. I had this.”

Al says in his upcoming memoir Sonny Boy about how his love for the theatre overshadowed money: “Maybe I’ll be able to eat or I won’t eat. Maybe I’ll have money or I won’t have money. Maybe I’ll become famous. Maybe I won’t. Doesn’t matter.”

About his time in the theatre – which led to him being spotted by The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and cast in the film – the actor also told CBS, “Didn’t matter. That’s the freedom. This was where I belonged.”