Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers kicked his alcohol addiction after the death of his mother - because her untimely demise gave him the determination to do more with his life.

The Irish star's mom Geraldine Meyers-O'Keeffe suffered a stroke in November, and Meyers turned to alcohol in a bid to cope with the news - resulting in his arrest for drunken behavior at a Dublin, Ireland airport hours later.

She passed away unexpectedly two days later. Charges of public drunkenness and breach of the peace against Meyers were later dropped. And the Mission: Impossible III actor - who entered rehab in early 2007 to battle alcoholism - insists he has been sober ever since.

He says, "I haven't even thought about drinking since my mother passed away. Drinking is not the way forward for me at all. Since I was 27 I must have been drunk maybe a dozen-and-a-half times - but when I do, I'm like Bambi. I'm all over the place, hopeless, like a 16-year-old kid. People notice."

"Now drink doesn't fit into where I want to go. I want to do something useful with my life. Drinking is not synonymous with that. To be honest, I just leave it alone and hope people will, too, but I don't really care. The whole drinking thing with me has been blown out of all proportion anyway."


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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)