Tom Hardy says his body is “falling to bits” now that he’s middle-aged.
The “Dark Knight Rises” actor, 47, discussed all of his latest ailments in a recent interview with Esquire.
“I felt faint today,” he mentioned to the publication. “I took a Sudafed and it’s beginning to take effect, so I’m feeling better, but during the interviews, I was seated there, and it’s that sensation when something feels off, yet you can’t articulate it to anyone?”
He then joked about the possibility of fainting mid-interview before discussing the various health issues he’s facing — after years of being an action star.
“I’ve undergone two knee surgeries, I have a herniated disc in my back, and I’m dealing with sciatica too,” he revealed. “And I have… what’s it called, plantar fasciitis? How did that appear? And why? Just why?!”
Hardy added that he also pulled a tendon in his hip.
“It’s like, it’s all falling to bits now, and it’s not going to get better,” he said.
The “Inception” star then reflected on some of the medical advances he is open to exploring. When asked if he would consider doing stem cell treatment, he replied, “Probably, yeah.”
“I think if it comes down to the wire and it seems the sensible thing to do and I take advice,” he continued, before diving into other medical things, including custom homeopathic treatments like “tinctures.”
“This is the biopsy of where we’re at: two vapes, somebody else’s clothes, and a hotel room that neither of us feels comfortable in!” he told the reporter, referring to their sit-down at a swanky hotel.
Despite his struggles, Hardy has stayed committed to keeping up with his fitness by doing jiu-jitsu.
“I did the posturing bit of boxing and hitting mitts, and trying to be a bloke,” he said. “But ultimately I was sort of scared of blokes, because there’s so many of them, and there’s always one stronger than you.”
He continued, “You know, somehow you’re supposed to be able to look after yourself in this wicked world, but in a numbers game it’s not possible to be the strongest. So eventually I was like, ‘Just have a go, who cares who wins.’ And of course I care who wins, but you spend the first couple of years trying to forget it. You’re not winning anything. It’s very humiliating, in the right way.”
Hardy, who earned his purple belt, called the martial art “a submission sport.”
“It’s about stopping your opponent. They submit to defeat, or you choke them, shutting off the carotid artery so the blood doesn’t go to the brain,” he explained. “But once you isolate a limb — an arm or a leg — and put pressure through the joint, and it’s correctly applied, you needn’t go any further. It’s a fait accompli. It’s done. You are done. Only your ego will take you any further.”
