Everyone knows and loves Daniel Radcliffe as the iconic Harry Potter. We mean, the actor took on the role at only 11 years old, and for eight straight years he starred as the powerful, young wizard. But as much as he loved it, the actor just opened up about the immense pressures of being a child star, and it’s seriously heartbreaking.
“Part of the thing is the expectation to be delighted all the time,” Daniel explained to Off Camera With Sam Jones about one of the main problems with being in the spotlight at such a young age. “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. You suddenly start to feel like, ‘If I am feeling some sort of human emotion of sadness, does that mean I’m doing this wrong? Does that mean I’m not good at being famous? Or not good at living my life?'”
The 29-year-old explained that constantly being watched, as well as the pressures to fit in influenced him to turn to alcohol.
“Some part of me was like, ‘Actors have to be crazy, cool drunks.’ I had to live up to this weird image that I had in my head of what it is to be a famous actor or something,” he explained. “There is [also] 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. 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.”
But don’t worry guys, there was never a moment that the British actor regretted taking on the role.
“Even at the lowest point I still loved my job so much and I loved going to set,” he continued. “There was never a day where my own s–t would effect how I was on set. There was never a point where I was like, ‘I wish this never happened to me. I wish I wasn’t Harry Potter.’ That just didn’t happen.”
And although he definitely had a rough patch, Daniel explained that he’s much happier now. And that’s all thanks to the amazing support from his friends and family.
“It took a few years and it took a couple of attempts but I think I have been just unbelievably lucky with the people I’ve had around me at certain times of my life,” the told the outlet. “I met some really key people — some of them actors, some of them not — who just gave me great advice and really cared for me.”
We’re so glad that Daniel’s in a much better place now.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s free and confidential hotline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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