Anthony Hopkins Turns From Alcohol And Atheism, Turns To God

There is no doubt that Anthony Hopkins is a skilled actor, having played diverse characters that are the epitome of evil to those who are men of faith. However, when he was 37-years-old, the Oscar-winning actor found himself in the depths of despair as an alcoholic and an atheist.

In 1975 while in New York, Hopkins had a drinking problem that was so bad that it almost felt like he was possessed. “It was like being possessed by a demon, an addiction, and I couldn’t stop,” the Welsh actor admitted. “And millions of people around like that. I could not stop.” The Silence of the Lambs star realized that in his drunken stupors, he was a danger to not only himself but those around him.

Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins as Father Lucas in the 2011 film The Rite (Credit: YouTube)
That’s what led him to Alcoholics Anonymous where the words of a woman at the AA meeting changed his life and started his journey to faith. “Why don’t you just trust in God?” the woman asked him. It’s not something Hopkins had ever tried. But, as desperate as he was, he thought, “Well, why not?” Deciding to believe and trust in God was the moment everything changed for the desperate actor.

“I could not stop [drinking], but I just asked for a little bit of help and suddenly, pow. It was just like, bingo,” Hopkins recalled. Almost miraculously, taking a leap of faith, the craving to drink was taken from him, “never to return again.” And, he’s believed in God ever since, working day after day, year after year, to grow in his faith.

Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah in the 2014 film Noah (Credit: YouTube)
When asked in a CNN interview with Piers Morgan if he believed in God, former-atheist Anthony Hopkins replied wholeheartedly, “Yes, I do. I do.” The Legends of the Fall star also weighed in on celebrities who are staunch atheists. “I’d hate to live like that, wouldn’t you?” Hopkins said. “We see them, mind you, on television today, many brilliant people who are professional atheists who say they know for a fact that it’s insanity to have a God or to believe in religion,” he furthered.

“Well, OK, God bless them for feeling that way and I hope they’re happy,” Hopkins added. “But I couldn’t live with that certainty, and I wonder about some of them: why are they protesting so much? How are they so sure of what is out there? And who am I to refute the beliefs of so many great philosophers and martyrs all the way down the years?”

Anthony Hopkins in the 1993 film Remains of the Day (Credit: YouTube)
There is little doubt Anthony Hopkins has a love for Jesus Christ. In a little-known interview with the Romanian press, the journalist challenged Hopkins by asking, “Doesn’t doubt breed fear in the hearts of religious people?”

“No, no,” Hopkins began. “Who’s the man two thousand years ago, when they were going to stone the woman caught in adultery, they were going to stone her to death. And that man two thousand years ago said, ‘Cast ye the first stone who has not sinned,’” he declared. “He liked the sinners, the drunks, and the prostitutes. He hung around with them because He knew they were vulnerable human beings…and came along and gave them light.”