Somebody That I Used To Know

New Year's Special

Ten Years Later

“Everyone please welcome our guest, Tom Hiddleston.”

The crowd applauds as Tom walks up on stage, waving. Few strands of grey whisp in the red pigment of his hair.

“Thank you for having me.” Tom smiles as he sits down.

“Thank you for joining us.” Jimmy greets. “We have so many questions. How are you doing? It's been quite a while since anyone has heard from you.”

“Yes, yes, it has. I'm doing wonderful, actually. I want to thank all the fans for staying interested all this time. It means a lot.”

“Everyone loves you, Tom. Tell us what you've been up to these past ten years. We've missed you.”

“Wow, that's a loaded question.” He laughs. “Alright. Well, I decided about a year after my hospitalization, that it was better to go away for a while. I started falling back into bad habits and I couldn't do that to my family again. Molly and I were doing well and my little Lily was such a doll, of course. So we packed it up and moved to a remote part of Ireland. There was no one for miles. Quite honestly, I threw away my cell phone. Molly had hers and there was an iPad for Lily, you know, but I stayed completely away from mobile technology. I just couldn't do it anymore. People were still DMing me about what happened, some of them not so kind, so I decided to completely erase it. Although I'm sure you heard about the lawsuit.”

The audience fills with whistles and cheers.

Tom begins to blush. It's been a long time since he's been in a situation like this.

“Of course we did. Tell us about that.”

“Yeah, so, I got the rights to the media where I was depicted. Everything was deleted and people who shared it were fined greatly. They tracked everything down. I mean, the internet is forever, that won't go away 100%, but it is very very difficult to find the media. And uh, there was a document found of a list of names in Mr. West's personal items. Detectives matched up deposits in his bank account to a timeline that matched up, so everyone on that list was arrested and proven guilty. Everyone involved has been put through legal action.”

“That is amazing. I know we've talked about your situation briefly on air before and I am so glad things are finally working out for you.”

“My life is great. My daughter is 17 now.”

Tom is cut off by more applause.

“Thank you. Yeah, she's 17 and is planning to go to school to be a therapist who specializes in addiction care for people who suffer with PTSD. Um, we've talked and she feels very passionate about it. I can't lie, it warms my heart.”

Jimmy nods. “I'm glad to hear. And what about everything that happened, does she know?”

“Oh, it's impossible not to.” Tom chuckles. It wasn't a funny matter but his laugh came anyway. “Of course I wish she didn't, but there's the internet and friends and all of that. We lived in the countryside but she wasn't isolated. And everything she needed to know. She remembers things about when she was younger than me ashamed of. I won't sit here and I say I was a good father during that time, because I wasn't. I can admit things now and I want to because I'm human. So many people see celebrities as Godlike figures and we're not. I'm a man, I went through something horrific, and it made me become someone I am ashamed of. But I can't be ashamed of the past because it made me better today. When Lils was a little girl, I was an alcoholic. You know, I almost died because my eating disorder became so terrible that when my ex-girlfriend left for a trip to grandmother's, I didn't eat any food for almost two weeks. That was Lillian's father for a few years. I was happy sometimes, normally high as a kite or drunk, and then I would crash and feel depressed. I can't say I became depressed because I was always depressed, but I started feeling it. And I was angry and confused and I took it out on my wife. I hated Molly for some time and I'll admit that. We've talked about it now, and she hated me too so it's alright.”