GQ is pulling all the big guns out for their October issue, and amongst their ammunition is the ever-dapper Idris Elba.
Following the release of covers featuring Jeff Bridges and Justin Theroux, Idris Elba’s cover is the third installment of the October covers chock-fulla handsome men, and we aren’t complaining.
More revealing than the three-piece suit is the the interview in which Idris opens up about his past selling drugs at the door of comedy clubs, and his recent altercation with Oasis front man.
Check out some excerpts from the candid interview below.
Idris Elba on formerly selling drugs & working as a doorman to make ends meet:
“Yeah, it was, because I was running with cats. I mean, I was DJ’ing, but I was also pushing bags of weed; I was doing my work. I had to. I know that sounds corny, but this is the truth.” He says he’d sell drugs at Carolines, and meanwhile all these successful guys would come through: D. L. Hughley, Dave Chappelle. “All those black comedians, they knew me as a doorman.”
…on his feud with Liam Gallagher following the NME Awards:
Elba has been in the tabloids recently for an altercation with Liam Gallagher after this year’s NME Awards; the younger Gallagher brother removed Elba’s wool cap in an apparently disrespectful manner. Elba took issue; the two men got into it. So it seems suspicious, Elba playing Gallagher’s song, and the next day, when we meet up again, I ask him about it.
“Wonderwall” last night—were you taking a shot?
“No! Fuck that idiot. No.”
Basically, Elba says, he just gave Liam a hug and an affectionate rub on the head.
“Didn’t like that. Don’t touch his hair, apparently. Fuck off. Next time walk with a fucking hairdresser, then.”
Laughter.
“Well, ‘I’m a popular rock singer, so I’m going to be mean and fucking horrible to people just because they messed up my look.’ Fuck off. I played his song because his song’s a classic. I couldn’t—I don’t even know what his songs are about now or what band he’s in now. No one gives a fuck, yeah? He was popular when he was in Oasis.”
…on finding out he was not the father of a boy he was calling his own:
“You know, the truth is—like, even admitting it, I’ll probably get laughed at for the rest of my life. But it is just tragic, and it happened.” He looks directly at me when he says this. “But I wasn’t knocked out. I stood right the fuck back up, and I ain’t aiming to take another punch in the face ever again. Do you understand what I’m saying? It happened to me. I moved on. I’ve not been an angel in my life, either—do you know what I’m saying? So to a certain extent, what goes around comes around. But for me in the future, I’m about being comfortable. That’s it.”
Head over to GQ to read more from the interview, and check out the behind the scenes video below.
SOURCE: GQ
