Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai

Mumbai, Sep 27: Actor Bobby Deol, fresh from the acclaim for his performance in Aryan Khan’s The Ba**ds of Bollywood*, has candidly shared his struggle with alcoholism, revealing how the fear in his family’s eyes finally drove him to give up drinking over a year ago.

Speaking on entrepreneur Raj Shamani’s podcast, Bobby called alcohol addiction “worse than drugs” and described how it brought out an angry, unpredictable side of him that his loved ones—especially his wife—had to endure. “I’m working for my family. And if I see fear and sadness in their eyes… it’s horrible,” he said. “Only the people closest to you are exposed to that angry and dark side of you. For my wife, it was anger, behaving badly, saying stupid things.”

Bobby recalled that during a difficult phase, the entire Deol family faced financial pressure, though his brother Sunny shielded him from it. “I started drinking a lot, blaming the world for not recognising my worth,” he admitted, adding that jealousy of fellow actors clouded his judgment.

The turning point came when Bobby overheard his young son telling his mother, “You go out to work every day, but Papa only sits at home.” That, he said, “changed everything,” prompting him to confront his addiction and rebuild his career.

Reflecting on his peers’ success, Bobby credited the self-belief and hard work of stars like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. “People liked them because they were working hard,” he noted.

Now more than a year sober, Bobby Deol says he’s grateful to his family for standing by him and is determined to continue his resurgence on screen while staying true to his renewed sense of purpose.