The Times – Saturday 29th October 2005

Actor Richard E. Grant, 48, is allergic to alcohol but has a serious Christmas-pudding addiction.

Interview by Amber Cowan

In the film Withnail & I, you downed a bottle of lighter fluid. What is the most toxic thing you’ve ever imbibed?

Alcohol: I don’t drink. During the rehearsals for Withnail, the director insisted that I get paralytically drunk so I’d know what it was like. It was dreadful. I was so ill I vomited and passed out.

Can’t handle your booze?

My doctor tells me I’m genuinely allergic to alcohol. I don’t have the enzyme that can process it in my bloodstream.

Is that genetic?

I have no idea where it comes from. Apparently half of all Japanese people have the same thing, as do some Aborigines, Native Americans and Inuits. Whether I have a genetic connection with any of them, I don’t know.

Any other unlikely complaints?

I had terrible migraines as a child so I stopped eating dairy, which seemed to work.

No other pills, spills or bellyaches?

None — apart from the usual scrapes that boys get into; falling out of tree houses, coming off my rollerskates and needing stitches.

Are you good at being ill?

I’m not a malingerer; in fact I’m tremendously healthy. I’ve had only two colds in the past 15 years and only two days in bed with flu.

Are you as sound of mind as you are of body?

Well, I had a breakdown when I was 42. All my systems crashed; I couldn’t function. I couldn’t even get out of bed for a couple of days. I just unravelled.

What caused it?

It was entirely to do with emotional memory. Childhood trauma. Interestingly, I was the same age as my father when he had a breakdown, just after my mother left him and his career as a politician in Swaziland — where I grew up — was ended by independence.

So did you seek professional help?

My wife told me to go and see somebody, so I got my head shrunk by a brilliant man who fixed the road maps in my mind. I had psychotherapy on and off for 18 months. It is such a relief to find out why you are how you are. I would recommend it to anyone: my coping mechanism is much better now.

Did you take happy pills?

No, I just needed to deal with a lot of built-up anger.

In good mental shape now?

Yes, and I keep fit too.

Are you the outdoorsy type?

I’m passionate about horses and have ridden since I was a child, although I don’t own one. I run for four miles a day in Richmond Park and play tennis and swim.

In training for Mr Universe?

I’ve always wanted to have muscles. But I’m going to be 50 soon so I really have to accept that I’m never going to have the Schwarzeneggers bulging under my shirt.

Embracing the ageing process?

Not entirely. I was delighted when they cloned Dolly the Sheep. Fantastic, I thought. Now there are more pins and pipes that can stop us growing old. I want to live for ever.

You don’t believe there is anything after?

I don’t waste any time thinking about the beyond, reincarnation or whether or not we are transported to another realm. I try to live life from moment to moment. What happens next doesn’t occupy an single atom of thought.

You never dabbled in, say, Daoism?

I took a comparative religion course when I was at university to get an overview, but it had no impact whatsoever. As far as I’m concerned, Darwin has come up with the best theory of how, when and why we are here – nothing else has convinced me otherwise.

A view you’ve shared with your daughter Olivia?

She is a non-believer, too, although that’s her choice. My wife is a Christian, but we’ve encouraged Olivia, now she’s 16, to make up her own mind. Like me, she came to the conclusion that both Heaven and Hell are here on Earth.

What’s your idea of Hell?

I fell off a horse two years ago and dislocated my shoulder. That was pretty hellish.

And Heaven?

Christmas puddings. I limit myself to one a month but I’d eat one every day if I could.

Richard E. Grant is performing in Otherwise Engaged at the Criterion Theatre, London W1. For information and tickets, call 0870 0602313