Los Angeles: Johnny Depp, the Oscar nominated movie hunk of films like ‘Finding Neverland’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ blames his meteoric rise to fame for his early days of alcohol addiction. According to sources, he was overwhelmed with his celebrity status and turned to drinking to block out his unhappiness. He says: “I’d go to functions and back in those days I literally had to be drunk to be able to speak and get through it. I guess I was trying not to feel anything. “My drug of choice back then was alcohol more than anything. Hard liquor, spirits. And, yeah, I had a keen idea that it was not good. But you get liquored up and once you are in that spiral, you don’t even get hangovers any more. You wake up and have a drink again.” — HNS