Hopkins reveals the mysterious voice that started his decades-long sobriety journey

Sir Anthony Hopkins has spoken candidly about his journey to sobriety and the mysterious voice in his head that led him to quit drinking. It is a voice that he believes to be God.

The 87-year-old Oscar winner opened up about his faith in a wide-ranging interview The New York Times. It comes ahead of the planned release of his memoir next month, titled “We Did OK, Kid.”

In the interview, Hopkins recalled drinking and driving in California On 29 December 1975. He said he didn’t care if he died or not. Hopkins described the sudden realization that he had potentially injured another person and said he called his former agent to ask for help.

He described what happened next as an “epiphany”.

Anthony Hopkins attends the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland on March 27, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (David Livingston/Getty Images)

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“Some deep, powerful thought or voice spoke to me inside and said: ‘It’s all over. Now you can live. And it’s all been done for a purpose, so don’t forget a moment of it,'” Hopkins told the Times.

The actor won two Academy Awards and starred in dozens more films. He said the voice, which he said came “from deep within,” has remained silent for nearly five decades since.

“It was a tone, male, reasonable, like a radio voice. The urge to drink was taken or left by me,” said Hopkins, best known for starring in films such as “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The Elephant Man.”

American actress Kathy Bates stands with British actor Anthony Hopkins in the press room of the 64th Annual Academy Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 30, 1992 in Los Angeles, California. (Vinny Zuffante/Getty Images)

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He admitted that it was a phenomenon he believed in and explained with faith.

“I have no theory other than divinity or that force that is in all of us that creates us from birth, the life force, whatever. It is a consciousness, I believe,” he said.

He recalls another defining moment when he was driving in the late 1970s Los Angeles and suddenly forced to join the Catholic Church. He went to church and told a young pastor that he had found God.

Hopkins said both experiences convinced him that God is something deeply personal and real.

British actor Anthony Hopkins attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 27, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. (Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images)

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“What happened that morning – when that voice said: ‘It’s over. Now you can start living and it’s all for a purpose’ – I knew it was a powerful way beyond my understanding,” he said.

“Not up there in the clouds but here. I chose to call him God. I didn’t know what else to call him. The short word, ‘God.’ Spelling is easy.”