Daniel Radcliffe Reveals Binge Drinking Past To Cope With ‘Harry Potter’ Success
Feb. 20 2019, Updated 5:29 p.m. ET
Daniel Radcliffe revealed in an interview posted on February 19, that he used to have a major drinking problem as a teen due to his Harry Potter fame. The actor said he doesn’t miss his wild past but understands the struggle of other child stars such as Justin Bieber!
Daniel, 29, was interviewed for Off Camera With Sam Jones. He told Sam Jones he used to have paranoia that people were watching him when he went out for drinks.
“In my case, the quickest way to forget you were being watched was to get very drunk. Then as you get very drunk, you become aware, ‘Oh, people are watching more now because now I’m getting very drunk, so I should probably drink more to ignore that more.’ It can affect your psyche,” he said.
Daniel continued, “When I think of the sort of chaos I used to invite into my life, I’m really much happier now. I think there was some part of me that was like, ‘Actors have to be crazy cool drunks. I have to live up to this weird image that I had in my head of what it means to be a famous actor.’”
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As far as other child stars go, he admitted, “There is no blueprint for starting young and working stuff out. That’s why whenever people are having a go at Justin Bieber drag racing cars or whatever, I’m always like, ‘Yeah, but you never know. Stuff could be super crazy for him right now.’”
Daniel revealed that if even though it was a hard time, “There was never a point where I was like, ‘Oh, I wish this hadn’t happened to me. I wish I wasn’t Harry Potter.’ That just didn’t happen.”
What do you think about Daniel opening up about his drunk past? Sound off in the comments below!