Dan Ewing has confessed that after joining the cast of Home and Away in 2007, he suffered with anxiety and used alcohol to cope with his newfound popularity.
The 36-year-old actor claimed he’struggled’ after being thrust into the spotlight in an interview with the ImperfectlyPerfect Podcast on Monday.
‘I had a lot of trouble. I was just a kid from the northern beaches, so shooting to stardom on Australia’s largest show, Home and Away… I wasn’t ready,’ he admitted.
‘At the time, my partner wasn’t ready, and I didn’t realise it, but I was suffering from anxiety.’
Dan, who stars in this year’s season of SAS Australia, admitted that he used alcohol as a coping strategy for his problems.
He added, ‘I’d simply pour all this booze down my throat and be completely written off on the weekend.’
‘You disguise it as,’ says the narrator “Oh, it’s just releasing steam. We’re all guilty of it “and it’s something we’ve all done. But I couldn’t see that there was a better method, that there was a better procedure…’
Even while he was still ‘kicking goals work-wise,’ Dan confessed that it was “not conducive to a wonderful relationship, a great marriage, or a great lifestyle.”
‘It wasn’t like I was an out-and-out alcoholic, but I was simply going blind on weekends to relieve this tension that I wasn’t prepared for,’ he added.
Dan also discussed his participation on SAS Australia, where he confessed that it was still very much a ‘TV programme,’ with producers present on set.
During several of the show’s gruelling trials, he claimed they would frequently have to’reset’ sequences, giving the recruits a much-needed break.
‘However, the duties, the pain, and being called every term under the sun, as well as sleep deprivation and all that type of stuff,’ he said.
SAS Australia airs on Channel Seven every Wednesday at 7.30 p.m.
