Barry Keoghan is opening up about his personal struggles.
The actor, 32, shared in a Hollywood Authentic profile that he battled drug addiction during his rise to stardom in the early 2020s, when he appeared in films like The Banshees of Inisherin, Saltburn, The Batman, and Marvel’s Eternals.
Now, Keoghan is working to put his addiction behind him, a condition that runs deep in his family tree.
“I’m not in denial anymore,” Keoghan told Hollywood Authentic. “I understand that I do have an addiction, and I am an addict. You know, when you accept that, you finally can move on and learn to work with it.”
This revelation comes three years after Keoghan faced arrest for public intoxication in Dublin. He was released without charges and given a fine.
The star, who earned an Oscar nod for The Banshees of Inisherin, spoke about his challenging upbringing, which saw him and his brother living in foster care before their grandmother took them in.
Keoghan’s mom, Debbie, passed away in 2003 when he was 12 after fighting drug addiction for years. The actor revealed his father also died from “a result of similar” issues and that drugs claimed the lives of two uncles and a cousin. According to Keoghan, his brother recently sought addiction treatment.
“That should be enough to go, ‘Ok, if I dabble here, I’m f—ed,’” Keoghan said about losing so many family members to addiction. “But your curiosity is a powerful thing.”
The actor, who first caught Hollywood’s attention in Christopher Nolan’s 2017 war epic Dunkirk, mentioned that moving to Tinseltown intensified his struggles, as his newfound fame brought “an enormous amount of pressure.”
Keoghan admitted that even after welcoming his son, Brando, in 2022, he continued struggling with substance use. He and Brando’s mother, Alyson Kierans, split in 2023.
The Eternals actor later dated Sabrina Carpenter in 2024. He suddenly went quiet on social media after their December breakup amid cheating rumors. Keoghan later took to X to blast the “absolute lies, hatred, [and] disgusting commentary” he received on Instagram before deleting his account.
Beyond discussing his difficult past, Keoghan showed the physical reminders of his addiction battle, including a prominent, winding scar on his right arm.
While not detailing his treatment or recovery journey, he expressed being “at peace” with his addiction and having apologized “mainly to myself more than anything else for all the pain I’ve put people and myself through.”
“[I’m] responsible for everything I do,” Keoghan added. “I’m accepting. I’m present. I’m a father. I’m getting to just see that haze that was once there—it’s a bit sharper now, and colorful.”
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