NEWSDaniel Radcliffe Blames Himself Not Peer Pressure for Past Drinking Problem
July 14 2011, Published 4:16 a.m. ET
Daniel Radcliffe might be regretting his confession that he had a past problem with drinking now that he's constantly being asked about it. The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 star stopped by the Today show on Thursday and openly discussed why he had a problem with alcohol and how he is now happier being sober.
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Daniel is busy promoting the final Harry Potter film, but he's also having to explain his recent confession that he had a drinking problem.
"At the same time and not by design," Ann Curry said on Today, "It's come out in a magazine and which you've been very... and it surprised a lot of people. You said, 'At one point I became so reliant on alcohol to enjoy stuff.' Exactly when was it?"
"I'd say from the ages of 18 to 21 was when that period of my life — I stopped drinking in the later year just after I turned 21," Daniel said. "Yeah, I suppose I just — it was something that I thought to make myself interesting and to make myself enjoy, you know, my life. I did become very reliant on it and I think it's a moment when you realize that something that is ultimately destructive has crept into being a routine.
"And so I thought that was the moment when I decided that the amount I was drinking had led me to become unhappy," the actor explained. "So I stopped with the help of friends and family," he explained. "And the last year has been a lot more manageable and a lot better. I feel happier."
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"Peer pressure?" Ann asked. "Being in the spotlight have something to do with that?"
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"I don't know, to be honest," he said. "I don't know that it's something that would have been affected by my life or whether it's something that I would have stumbled upon anyway had I never been Harry Potter."
"But I wouldn't put it down to peer pressure at all," Daniel added. "If anything, the only pressure that was put on myself to drink and become good at it — which I never achieved, I was always very unsuccessful at it — was put on by myself."
Watch a clip of Daniel's interview on Today, below!
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