Tommy Fury: ‘Most Nights I Would Drink to Get Black-Out Drunk’
Tommy Fury is best known for boxing, Love Island and his high-profile relationship with Molly-Mae Hague. He’s less known for showing vulnerability, but in an exclusive interview with Men’s Health UK, Fury has opened up about dealing with some dark days.
Following a serious hand injury that hospitalised, then sidelined him for close to a year, Fury revealed he turned to drink as a coping mechanism. As something to do, as much as anything, while unable to train.
‘It’s not like I’d get up in the morning and start drinking,’ says Fury. ‘But rather than sit in bed all day and fester, I’d think, why not go out? Where I'd normally be in camp, I’d just be smashing Guinness left, right and centre. Then later on in the night, shots would come out. Most nights I would drink to get black-out drunk. I think that’s what really took its toll on me.’
Fury’s honesty sheds light on a troubling but familiar pattern for a lot of men: using alcohol as a way to cope with emotional turmoil. While the conversation around male mental health has come a long way, many still have an ingrained sense that vulnerability equals weakness. In our interview, Fury himself admits he’s ‘not really a guy to cry. I bottle a lot of things up.’ Alcohol, then, can feel like an accessible, albeit destructive, escape route.
Research shows that men are more likely than women to both binge drink and drink alone at home, with stress and loneliness clear contributing factors. For Fury, the cycle of drinking became an attempt to manufacture some form of artificial high – ‘I wanted the endorphins that I’d get when I’d finish a good session, when I’d finish sparring, when I’d finish fighting’ – but ultimately ‘really took its toll’.
He goes on to reveal his alcohol problem was the reason his relationship with Molly-Mae came to an end: ‘We broke up because I had a problem with alcohol and I couldn't be the partner that I wanted to be anymore.’
Today though, he’s in a much better headspace: ‘I've got myself out of that now,’ he tells MH, crediting the need to be there for his daughter, and a commitment to return to the ring, as driving forces. ‘I'm ready to pick back up,’ he says, ‘and have a great 2025.’
Listen to the full interview on the Men's Health podcast via Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube.
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