Daniel Radcliffe is opening up about one of the most prolific times in his life.
The 29-year-old actor recently admitted that he turned to alcohol to deal with the pressures of fame after the Harry Potter franchise became a global hit and catapulted him into the spotlight many years ago.
Related: Daniel Radcliffe & Tom Felton Have A ‘Harry Potter’ Reunion For The Ages!
The British actor got candid about his experience in an interview for Off Camera with Sam Jones, telling the host that he was very aware of the increased attention that came with his iconic first gig:
“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 but… you would feel watched when you went into a bar, when you went into a pub. Then, in my case, the quickest way of forgetting about the fact that you were being watched was to get very drunk and then as you get very drunk, you become aware that, oh people are watching more now because now I’m getting very drunk, so I should probably drink more to ignore that more.”
Ugh, that must be what living in a fish bowl feels like…
The actor explains that contrary to popular belief, it can be difficult to face normal emotions as a young star because of the lifestyle you’ve achieved:
“Part of the thing is the expectation that you should just be delighted all the time. You have a great job, you’re wealthy, you don’t have a right to ever feel sad or to not be excited about the whole thing all the time and I think that’s a pressure as well.”
It sounds like Daniel knows that feeling all too well! He went on to express empathy for pop star Justin Bieber, who has also been at the center of public attention since the beginning of his career. In response to headlines and speculation consistently surrounding the singer, the star says:
“I’m always like, ‘Yeah, but you know stuff could be super crazy for him right now.'”
The Harry Potter alum admits that things got pretty rough before he was able to acknowledge that his substance abuse had gone a little too far:
“It took a few years and it took a couple of attempts. Ultimately, it was my own decision… I woke up one morning after a night going, ‘This is probably not good.'”
Radcliffe acknowledges that he was perhaps trying to live up to an unrealistic image of how he thought he should be:
“When I think of the sort of chaos that I used to invite into my life, I’m really much happier now and I think there was some part of me that was like actors have to be like crazy, cool drunks. I have to live up to this weird image that I have in my head of what it is to be a famous actor or something.”
Luckily for us Potter heads out there, Daniel never let the fame and all that came with it deter him from the role of a lifetime:
“Even at the lowest point, I still loved my job so much and I loved going to set and there was never a day where my own s**t would affect how I was on set. There was never a point where I was like ‘I wished this didn’t happen to me. I wish I wasn’t Harry Potter,’ like that just didn’t happen.”
We’re so glad to hear it!
What do YOU guys think about his confession? Are you surprised or is this becoming all too common for child stars?
Sound off in the comments (below)…
[Image via Joseph Marzullo/WENN.]
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