‘Harry Potter’ Star Daniel Radcliffe Admits He Got ‘Very Drunk’ as a Teen to Deal With Pressure of Fame
Daniel Radcliffe is opening up about the weight of being famous at a young age.
The Harry Potter star revealed during a recent interview that he turned to alcohol as a teen to cope with the pressure. Speaking on Off Camera With Same Jones, Radcliffe, 29, said he could relate to other teen stars who fall into unhealthy habits.
"There is an awareness that I really struggled with, particularly in my late teens when I was going out to places for the first time where you would feel – again, it could have largely been in my head – where you would feel watched when you went into a bar, when you went into a pub," he revealed. "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 not because now I'm getting very drunk, so I should probably drink more to ignore that more.' It can affect your psyche."
Even at his "lowest," Radcliffe loved acting, and refused to allow his struggles with fame and alcohol to jeopardize that. He never regretted a role, particularly Harry Potter, and always behaved his best at work.
"Even at my lowest point, I still loved my job so much and I still loved going to set. There was never a day where my own s--- would affect how I was on the set," he said. "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."
Radcliffe decided on his own that it was time to step back from booze. He admitted that it wasn't easy, but that he knew it was time.
"Ultimately it was just my own decision," he said. "I woke up one morning after a night, going, 'This is probably not good.'"
He added, "I don't miss it generally now at all. I know that varies for some people. 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.'"
The British actor said he has sympathy for other stars who are going through similar struggles publicly. like Justin Bieber. Radcliffe noted that "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,'" he said.