Generally speaking, I’ve lost count of how many drunken exploits, arrests and truly odd f-cking stories I’ve heard about from Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The boy is a raging alcoholic, if not a drug addict too. He’s been in and out of rehab for years, and I would be tempted to compare him to Lindsay Lohan, except that his cracked-out shenanigans don’t have a Lohan-esque whiff of famewhore – plus, Jonathan is really, really talented, and when he’s sober (and maybe not even then), he can turn in some impressive work. Jonathan usually just comes across as a really talented guy with some major demons. I’m kind of through defending him, though – during his last publicly drunken escapade, he pitched a fit at JFK airport, and dropped the n-word at airport staff. Well, Jonathan has a new interview in The Daily Mail, and he’s trying to explain some of what has been going on. Eh:

On his 33rd birthday: ‘It’s time to start thinking seriously about things,’ insists the star of The Tudors. ‘I wouldn’t want to do the 20s again, you know? You go through your 20s sort of like a chrysalis in many ways, stretching into your own skin and trying to bust out of a cocoon. You want to be a butterfly and you just think of everything as, “Ooh, what fun can I have here?” But, after a while, you realise that things are getting in the way of you growing up and being who you really want to be. And when you look harder at exactly what it is that is getting in your way, you quite often find that it’s yourself.’

On his demons: ‘I just don’t want to be that f-cking a–hole sitting in the pub and someone turns around and says, “See him there at the end of the bar. He could have made a f-cking fortune, but he went over to Hollywood and he just f-cking p****d it up against the wall.”‘

On his childhood and teen years: Dublin-born but raised in Cork with his three younger brothers – mostly by his mother (his parents separated when he was three) – he admits that he was something of a rebel. He was expelled from school at 16 for truancy, and took to spending his days in a pool hall. There he struck up an unusual friendship with Christopher Croft, a farmer. The openly gay father-of-three offered Rhys Meyers a job on his farm and put a roof over his head. The pool hall is also the place Rhys Meyers was discovered by a casting agent. To this day, he credits Croft – whom he has described as a ‘nice man’ – with giving him some stability in his life. But he’s unwilling to discuss the exact nature of his relationship with Croft, or his mentor’s dark side. Last year, Croft was arrested in Morocco – where, coincidentally, the actor keeps a home – for drugging and sexually abusing a 15-year-old homeless boy.

On beginning to work full-time when he was a teenager: ‘When you go all the way through from your late teens to your late 20s on film sets, it’s a very strange introduction to the world,’ he points out. ‘It can take a long time for some people to find out how to ground themselves, and film sets are an odd atmosphere to do it in – especially if, like me, you finished school early.’

On buying his late mother a house: ‘It was one of those things that sons have to do. I just felt it was a way for me to invest my money into somebody that I loved very much.’

On fame: ‘That’s a funny thing, fame,’ he says. ‘People definitely do treat you differently. When you begin to be successful, people say, “Don’t go changing.” Well, that’s easy to say, but the fact is, you don’t change at all – other people do.’

On his girlfriend, Reena Hammer, who is 24 years old and Creative Director of Urban Retreat: She was reportedly the one who gave him the recent ultimatum, ‘Back to rehab or I quit’. ‘I care for Reena more than I’ve cared for anyone,’ he says. ‘She’s so amazing. We’ve been together for five or six years now, we’re very good friends. Having loved her for so long has changed my whole idea of relationships with women.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Well, at least we don’t get the Lohan-esque “I’m not doing anything! I’m just a child!” denials, but in my opinion, there’s still some denial in this interview. Of course, I think his childhood was probably pretty tough, and he may or may not have been abused by a man he trusted very much, and I know that Meyers is trying. BUT – it’s just sad. It’s just a waste of talent. He’s 33 years old, and he has the potential of being one of the best actors of his generation, and he’s just pissing it away because he can’t get it together.

JRM on February 11, 2010 and May 6, 2010. Credit: WENN.