AceShowbiz -

Idris Elba opens up about painful moments in his life in an October issue of GQ magazine. The "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" star reveals how he struggled to make ends meet in the past as well as the moment he learned that a child he fathered was not his.

"The celebration of having a son - from a man's perspective, it's massive," the "Pacific Rim" star tells the men's magazine. "It wasn't immediately obvious - well, it was, because he didn't look like me. ... To be given that and then have it taken away so harshly was like taking a full-on punch in the face," Elba says.

"Even admitting it, I'll probably get laughed at for the rest of my life," he says further. "But it is just tragic, and it happened. ... It happened to me. I moved on. 'Luther' came at a time where, you know, it was gaga therapy for me, man."

In the magazine spread, Elba says that he had a hard time finding an acting job in New York City. Therefore, he worked as a DJ and sold drugs. "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 reveals. The 41-year-old actor also became a doorman at Carolines comedy club and met celebrities such as Dave Chappelle and D.L. Hughley. "All those black comedians, they knew me as a doorman," he continues.

His difficult situation at that time contributed to his split from his wife. "[She] didn't adjust to the culture as quickly as I did. We just had a hard time. The next thing you know, we broke up," Elba says.