Los Angeles, Nov 21 : Hollywood star Denzel Washington has shared that at one point he used to wash down his throat with two bottles of fine wine a day.

The 69-year-old 'Training Day' star spent years battling a drinking problem but he has been sober for 10 years and he has revealed that his issues with alcohol started when he got a taste for pricey vintages after adding a wine cellar to the family home, reports 'Female First UK'.

He told 'Esquire' magazine, "Wine is very tricky. It's very slow. It ain't like, boom, all of a sudden. I never got strung out on heroin. Never got strung out on coke. Never got strung out on hard drugs. I shot dope just like they shot dope, but I never got strung out. And I never got strung out on liquor. I had this ideal idea of wine tastings and all that, which is what it was at first. And that's a very sub­tle thing."

He further mentioned, "I mean, I drank the best, I learned to drink the best (when we added the wine cellar). So I'm gonna drink my '61s and my '82s and whatever we had. Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that's what was left."

As per 'Female First UK', he revealed he used to drink two bottles a day but he would never indulge when he was working.

Denzel shared, "I never drank while I was working or preparing. I would clean up, and go back to work, I could do both. However, after many months of shooting, bang, it's time to go. Then, boom. Three months of wine, then time to go back to work."

He went on to concede his drinking impacted his health but he's hoping a decade sober will help him live well into old age.

He added, "I've done a lot of damage to the body. We'll see. I've been clean. Things are opening up for me now like being 70. It's real. And it's OK. This is the last chapter -- if I get another thirty, what do I want to do? My mother made it to ninety-seven. I'm doing the best I can."

/IANS