Danny Dyer has revealed the moment he realised he needed to get clean from drugs and turn his life around.
The former EastEnders actor, 47, has previously spoken about his struggles with substance abuse. In a new interview, he described how years of partying culminated in a sobering moment at home.
“I was just sitting on the toilet in my en suite trying to work out what leg goes in what,” he told The Louis Theroux Podcast. “I looked up and my wife was watching me. She looked shattered. She looked ill. That really stayed with me.”
Dyer said it was a turning point. “I thought, you are going to die. You are going to kill yourself. You are not happy. You are spending all your money on drugs. You are destroying everything around you.”
He said he could no longer ignore the toll it was taking on his wife, Joanne Mas, whom he married in 2016, and their three children — Dani, 28, Sunnie, 18, and Arty, 11.
“There were times when Jo took control of everything,” he said. “She even kicked me out once, and rightly so. I would go missing for days at a time.”
The actor originally shot to fame in the 1999 film Human Traffic and went on to become one of the most recognisable faces on British television.
He joined BBC soap EastEnders in 2013 as Mick Carter, a role that revived his career — but behind the scenes, he was heavily reliant on prescription drugs like Valium and diazepam to cope with the pressure.
“I had bailiffs coming round. No one would hire me. The more club appearances I did, the more I drank and took drugs. I was stuck in a spiral,” he said.
Despite the chaos, his celebrity status continued to grow. “I would turn up at clubs, wave off balconies and get paid well for it. It was all nonsense.”
Dyer entered rehab in 2017 and has since spoken candidly about the dangers of glamorising addiction.
He described his former lifestyle as one of “hedonism” and “mad behaviour” that ultimately left him feeling empty.
Now sober, he is back on screen and filming the second series of the drama Rivals.
Last month, he won Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme at the 2025 BAFTA TV Awards for his role in Mr Bigstuff.
Reflecting on how far he has come, he said, “There is nothing glamorous about waking up and not knowing how to get your jeans on. It was awful. But I got through it. And I am still here.”
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify and all podcast platforms.
