Daniel Radcliffe has blamed the role of Harry Potter for turning him into an alcoholic.
The British actor made the admission while appearing on BBC Radio 4’s latest Desert Island Discs.
He told host Lauren Laverne: “If I went out and if I got drunk, I’d suddenly be aware of there being interest in that because it’s not just a drunk guy. It’s ‘Oh, Harry Potter’s getting drunk in the bar.’
Radcliffe said that playing the boy wizard “carried some kind of interest for people and also a slightly mocking interest”, adding: “It’s inherently funny for people.”
The actor told Laverne that “[his] way of dealing with that [was] just to drink more or get more drunk, so I did a lot of that for a few years”.
He continued: “A lot of drinking that happened towards the end of Potter and for a little bit after it finished, it was panic, a little bit not knowing what to do next – not being comfortable enough in who I was to remain sober.”
Radcliffe, who has been sober since 2010, praised his family and friends on set for providing him with “enough perspective on my life” to help him through tough times.
The actor previously said that he attempted to stop drinking multiple times and eventually did so with the help of friends.
“Ultimately, it was my own decision,” he told Off Camera. “Like I woke up one morning after a night going like, ‘This is probably not good.’”
Last year, Radcliffe named his favourite Harry Potter film, acknowledging it was one “not a lot of people [choose].”
