Sam Taylor-Johnson has opened up about her battle with alcoholism.
The 50-year-old director – who tied the knot with actor Aaron Taylor Johnson, 26, in 2012 – revealed she drank to excess during her first marriage to art dealer Jay Jopling, who she divorced in 2008.
She told the Sunday Times Magazine: "I would drink to blackout most nights. I thought it was because I was a cool British artist, but actually I was quite a mess. I would say I was an alcoholic. I put myself in supremely dangerous situations."
However, after battling colon cancer, followed by breast cancer, Sam embraced a healthier lifestyle.
She said: "I stopped drinking, I stopped partying, I calmed down."
Sam also revealed it was Aaron who pursued her, when she directed him in the 2009 movie ‘Nowhere Boy’.
Asked if they fell in love on set, she said: "I wasn’t thinking that way, but we had this intense connection: I could tell by the twitch of an eyelash whether he was focused or not. He was very intense and absolutely mind made-up."
Although she admitted their age gap did cause her to hesitate at first, she added: "But it wasn’t long. Aaron was, ‘Have no fear.’
"He is an amazing man. If you saw us together, we’re in such sync. We spend every minute of the day together. My friends call him Benjamin Button because he has – on the outside — such youth, and on the inside, he is so wise and settled. He doesn’t like parties. He likes being at home and cooking for the family. He likes walking the dogs. He loves his chickens — he collects the eggs and makes breakfast for everyone."
Sam and Aaron have daughters Wylda Rae, born in 2010, and Romy Hero, born in 2012, together, while she also has two daughters from her marriage to Jay.
Sam Taylor-Johnson: ‘I was an alcoholic’
