Hopkins Marks 50 Years Sober, Releases Memoir

In his new memoir We Did OK, Kid, Anthony Hopkins recounts instantly recognizing how to play Hannibal Lecter — choosing a quiet, friendly menace that helped win him an Oscar — and revisits a life shaped by a difficult Welsh childhood and a long acting career. He writes candidly about alcoholism and a decisive 1975 wake-up that led to 50 years sober, a change he credits to a spiritual moment or “somebody up there.” Hopkins discusses personal struggles including anger and says his wife told him he has Asperger’s, while also expressing skepticism about modern neurodiversity labels and warning that people often “put on a mask.” This year his Pacific Palisades home was destroyed by wildfires but he and his family escaped, and he remains active professionally with new films and musical projects. Overall the memoir mixes self-examination, gratitude and a rueful dismissal of grand narratives, with Hopkins attributing his longevity and success more to luck and persistence than design.