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Simon Pegg turned to drink to combat anxiety while filming Mission: Impossible III

Simon Pegg was so anxious while filming Mission: Impossible III that he began drinking heavily.

The British actor made his debut as computer genius Benji in the 2006 action spy thriller, a role which marked a departure from the comedy roles he was well-known for, in movies such as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.

However, Pegg confessed he struggled enormously while filming the movie in Los Angeles alongside Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne, and Ving Rhames, and drank heavily as he was feeling lonely and anxious.

"I remember being away for the first time coming over to do Mission: Impossible III and being sort of stuck in this hotel room in Beverly Hills and being so panicky and feeling so unwell that I drank a lot. I drank my entire mini-bar because I just wanted to not feel that way," he said during an appearance on the podcast Headstrong.

"By the time I came on set to do my scenes, I was kind of a wreck because I was just super anxious, and I'd been drinking. It was so self-destructive," the 51-year-old explained.

He went on to share his advice for those who also may be suffering from a dependency on alcohol and said he would always turn to booze when he was feeling stressed or anxious.

"All those fixes are so temporary, they’re so quick, that they don't solve the problem, they just dam it up. And so any time I knew I was in trouble, I just kicked the can down the street by having a pint. It's not the way to go," Pegg shared.

The actor went on to reprise his role as Benji in the following three Mission: Impossible films, and will return for the upcoming seventh and eighth instalments in the saga, which are set to be released in November 2021 and November 2022, respectively.

He checked into rehab before 2011's Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and has been sober ever since.