Actor Tom Hardy has been hard on his body — and has been candid about the ramifications.
The action star has transformed his body for film roles over the years — sometimes adding on weight and sometimes dropping it quickly to fulfill his on-camera obligations. He has also been open about his addiction to cocaine, his time in rehab at age 25 and his many years of hard-earned sobriety.
In an interview with Esquire published on May 9, Hardy also admitted that some of his health problems are “not going to get better.”
Here is a look at what Hardy has shared about his health over the years.
In a 2015 interview with Essentials magazine, Hardy opened up about his cocaine addition.
“I was a shameful suburban statistic,” he told the outlet at the time. “I was told very clearly, ‘You go down that road, Tom, you won’t come back. That’s it. All you need to know.'”
“That message stayed with me clearly for the rest of my days,” he continued. “I am f***king lucky to be here, to be honest.”
At one point, he said, his addiction got so bad that he would have sacrificed his family to feed his drug habit. “I would have sold my mother for a rock of crack,” he admitted to Essentials.
His health is “not going to get better”
While speaking to Esquire in May 2025, Hardy detailed his current health woes.
“I got dizzy today,” Hardy told the outlet. “I took a Sudafed and it’s starting to work, so I feel better, but in the interviews I was sitting there, and you know when you feel not right, but you can’t tell someone you don’t feel right? Like, ‘Listen, if I pass out…’”
The Havoc star explained that he’s had “two knee surgeries now” as well as a herniated disc in his back and sciatica. “And I have that… is it plantar fasciitis?” he added. “Where did that come from? And why? Why?! And I pulled my tendon in my hip as well. It’s like, it’s all falling to bits now, and it’s not going to get better.”
“There’s only more, more, more,” Hardy continued. “Of what? Stomach ulcers? Blood pressure? Your knees are going, your hair’s falling out, your teeth are wonky, you’re almost 50… Maybe it’s a self-worth thing, maybe it’s not finishing school, maybe it’s not being good enough. But all this ‘I’ll show, I’ll show’… Show who? No one cares! I know I can do it. Well then, chill out.”
He’s open to alternative treatment
Hardy told Esquire in the same May 2025 interview that he’s open to alternative therapies, including “tinctures,” which are liquids made from soaking herbs. He went on to reveal that he’s even a consideration for “stem cells,” saying, “I think if it comes down to the wire and it seems the sensible thing to do and I take advice.”
He has changed his body for roles
Hardy is no stranger to bulking up and slimming down for roles, but he has sometimes taken his dedication to his craft to the extreme. While speaking to Ask Men in 2009, he admitted to eating a lot to bulk up for his role in Bronson.
“I had five weeks to make the transition into Britain’s most dangerous criminal and it was a race against the clock: We didn’t have any time to waste, so I started eating and my arse very quickly got very fat,” Hardy said. “For Bronson, I put on about 7 lbs a week — with no steroids. In the end I’d put on about 2 and a half stone by eating chicken and rice, which was my staple diet throughout the day. Then I’d have a pizza, Häagen-Dazs and Coca-Cola: So not good stuff, but I had to put weight on. I needed to put a layer of fat on my body, because Bronson when he was younger was a big guy, a brawler.”
The plan was extreme but it worked.
“Initially Charles Bronson was very disappointed when he saw me,” Hardy added. “He said ‘This kid will never be able to play me.’ I just told him, ‘Don’t worry Charlie I’ll fix it.’ When I came back two weeks later he was thoroughly impressed with what he saw.”
Two years later he dropped almost 15 percent of his body fat for Warrior. “Over time, technique wins over natural ability. People who work hard, with constant application, determination and tenacity – although they may not be as interesting, or have as much flair – will win,” Hardy told Men’s Health.
