Tom Kerridge thought “heavy drinking” was going to kill him.
Tom Kerridge quit drinking because he thought it would kill him
The 'Great British Menu’ judge - who went sober at 39 - has detailed how his pursuit for a Michelin star almost cost him “an extremely high price”, as he would rely on booze to cope with long, gruelling days in the kitchen.
The 49-year-old chef told the Daily Star newspaper: "My own ambition to become a top chef nearly came at an extremely high price.
"There were pressures I put on myself as a professional when I was trying to get my first Michelin star.
"I was doing 18-hour days. It was being released every night by massively heavy drinking. Every day.
"You need that release and mine was alcohol, and it was massive.
"I recognised the behaviour was massively unhealthy and if I hadn’t stopped, I doubt I would have made 50."
Tom previously told how, for him, there is "no such thing as a glass of wine or a beer", and that is why he needs to be totally teetotal.
He told the Daily Express newspaper: “There never was."
The 'Hidden World of Hospitality’ star quit drink after he hit his lifetime “amount of booze” limit.
Tom said: “The way I view it is that if you live to 75 years old, you’ve got that amount of booze that you can drink until you’re 75. I did by the age of 40.”
The star says drinking is “still” a huge part of his brand, despite his own personal abstinence.
He said: “It was massively a part of my life, and still is. I own pubs, I sell it and I’m passionate about people who make it. It’s not something that I know I can be a part of.
“Sometimes I feel that I’ve let myself down that I can’t enjoy a glass of wine on holiday, or a gin and tonic watching the sunset, or a beer with the boys at football.
“I just can’t do it because everything I do is quite excessive.”