Oldman: Wild days were another life

Gary Oldman has said his wild days seem like they happened in another life now.

The 54-year-old actor and director is a recovering alcoholic and now lives a tee total lifestyle with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. He told Harper's Bazaar magazine how he had been caught up in a "tornado" of success in his early days of stardom.

Gary said: "The wilder days probably weren't as wild as people reported. It seems like a whole other life, a different person. I don't know if I liked myself very much then. I was caught up in a sort of tornado.

"You're young and impressionable. You've got ambition, testosterone. You start to make money. You're around beautiful women but you've always got this mistress, which is the work. It's quite selfish. I just don't think you necessarily have the maturity to handle it."

The Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy star, who earned his first Oscar nomination this year, said age had enabled him to ignore the politics of Hollywood.

He said: "You have to have acceptance of who you are, not worrying about what somebody over there is doing. All that insecurity, 'he's better looking', 'he's taller', 'he's better than me'.

"Thank God all of that has gone. You get philosophical. You just go, 'F**k 'em.' I'm OK. Though awards definitely get you believing it for a while."