Myers: I’m no hellraiser

TUDORS star Jonathan Rhys Myers has rubbished reports he has undergone rehab for alcoholism and insists his image as a Hollywood hellraiser is wide of the mark.

The Cork-born actor admitted he has spent some time in Middlesex staying with a counsellor but denies he went to a recovery centre in England in recent months.

“I wasn’t being treated for alcoholism. I already did that and I haven’t had a drink in years,” he insisted.

Rumours he had begun to drink again started circulating when he cancelled a series of scheduled appearances on TV shows and award ceremonies. The 31-year-old actor failed to show up to collect two different awards for his work – at the IFTA event in Dublin and at the Oscar Wilde event in Los Angeles. He also withdrew from appearances on late night chat shows in the US.

“I just felt I needed time off and I didn’t need to go to awards ceremonies.

“You can get slightly waylaid as an actor doing that sort of thing and I’m never that comfortable at them anyway.”

He said that his party animal reputation is completely exaggerated. “I live an incredibly low-key life. I think people would like to think I’m a hell of a lot naughtier than I am actually. I am actually quite a boring guy. I spent the last week and a half playing bloody golf. If anyone saw me in those stupid golf clothes on the golf course, there would have been a different story written,” said the actor who plays King Henry VIII in the hit TV series The Tudors.

Jonathan, who has starred in a range of blockbusters, including Match Point and Mission Impossible III, has had a difficult time over the past two years, having to cope with the breakup of a long-term engagement to Reena Hammer and the sudden death of his mother, Geraldine.