GUY’S DARKEST DAYS
Pearce tells how despair took him to brink
ACTOR Guy Pearce has revealed the depths of despair into which he fell after the breakdown of his marriage that left him not much caring whether he lived or died.
The Emmy-winning actor split from his wife of 18 years, Melbourne psychologist Kate Mestitz, in 2015 and said things came to a head while filming in Berlin that same year, when he found himself drinking heavily, sobbing for hours at a time and wondering whether he would be better off dead.
“I had a little period in the middle of 2015 where I was staggering across a few busy streets in Berlin where I thought, if I get knocked down by a car, that will be an easy way out,” the Geelong-raised Pearce said.
“I wasn’t wanting that, but I think probably like Jeff Buckley when he went swimming wi i i in W Wolf lf River that time, if a current takes me down then so be it.”
Pearce, best known for acclaimed movies such as Memento, Prometheus and The King’s Speech, as well as the Melbourne-shot Jack Irish detective series, said he found salvation through his music.
Having admitted to smoking too much marijuana in the past, he quit drinking and channelled his grief into his most personal songs yet, which he will share with the world in July when he releases his second album, The Nomad.
The former Neighbours star said writing the songs helped him discover his own identity again outside of his marriage and although the creative process was painful, it helped him to come to terms with the divorce.
Pearce has found love again with Dutch Game Of Thrones actor Carice Van Houten, with whom he has a son, Monte, and the actorsinger will return to Australia to play songs from the new album at one show only at the Arts Centre in Melbourne on July 8.
He is also planning to direct his partner in his first feature film, Poor Boy, in Victoria later in the year.
“I am glad now that I have managed to find control and get back on my feet and be responsible,” he said. “I stopped drinking a couple of years ago — and I have a little 20-month old boy and every moment I spend with him is just unbelievable.”
Pearce said that, although he splits his time between Amsterdam, Los Angeles and London depending on where the work is, Geelong will always be his home and he’s trying to make sure his son is well versed in all things Australian.
“We watched Geelong and Sydney together the other day, which sadly we lost,” he said.
“But he knows how to throw his fists in the air and say ‘Go Cats’ or put his thumbs up and say ‘good on yer’. So I am doing as much Ockerfying as I possibly can.
“But it’s really about making sure his English is up to scratch as he is surrounded by everyone else speaking Dutch. I’m doing what I can to keep him being a little Aussie boy.”
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“I am glad now that I have managed to find control and get back on my feet and be responsible.” ACTOR GUY PEARCE