Daniel Radcliffe confesses to feeling ‘scared’ during drink and drugs battle

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has opened up about his battle with alcohol in his late teens, revealing he felt ‘really sad, really scared’ before finding sobriety in 2013

Mesmerising Broadway audiences with his one-person play Every Brilliant Thing, told through a list of every wonderful thing that makes life worth living, Daniel Radcliffe would place love at the summit of his own catalogue.

Each evening, Tony winner Daniel, 36, invites five audience members to participate in the interactive performance – also distributing lines to other patrons to recite, as he addresses topics including suicide and depression.

Portraying schoolboy wizard Harry Potter across eight films, from age 11 to 21, during his late teens, Daniel battled alcohol dependency while grappling with celebrity – and relates to some of those emotions. However, teetotal since 2013 – the year following his encounter with partner, American actress Erin Darke on the set of Kill Your Darlings – and father to their son, who is nearly three, Daniel is now soaring.

He remarks: “I have a long term sobriety. I am very grateful for that. I met my partner Erin 14 years ago. She has been a huge part of my happiness – and having a child. There is something about being truly known and understood by another human being. That is why love exists. You can’t emphasise how wonderful that is.”

And while he’s a renowned actor to his countless admirers, at home he’s simply Dad – viewing 101 Dalmatians with his son … repeatedly. He reveals: “We have just watched The Little Mermaid. We are doing some nice early Disney. Right now I am just his dad and he has no idea what I do. He understands what policemen, doctors and firemen do. But acting? I tell him I help tell stories like from his book.”

Meanwhile, Every Brilliant Thing serves as a therapeutic process for Daniel. He explains: “There is something beautiful about doing this show. I am talking to people a lot at the stage door about issues too.” His current role can also prove a humbling experience when he notices A-list stars in the audience.

He chuckles: “I was trying to recruit a man in the audience to play a part in the show the other night. I looked to my right and Patti LuPone was sitting next to Susan Sarandon and she was sitting next to Jessica Laing. I was like ‘how cool and intimidating that all you three ladies hang out!’ We had Ian McKellen the other day and I was like ‘oh, cool. You are here…great! I’d better be good.’”

Then, when he required someone to high five during another performance, he selected Anna Wintour, saying: “It is a memory I will take to my grave.” Describing the programme’s distinctive format, he explains: “I perform on stage with about five audience members and I hand out cards to about 35 people with words they say when I say a number. Someone also gets to throw confetti. It is very stressful, but it always comes together five minutes before we start It is awkward to find my love interest every night!”, reports the Mirror.

Having secured a Tony award for his performance in the musical Merrily We Roll Along in 2024, his extensive stage, television and film portfolio encompasses Equus, Swiss Army Man and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and Miracle workers. Yet Daniel remains humble about his achievements. He reflects: “There were moments in my late teens and early 20s when I was really sad, really scared. I did not know what the future would hold for me. I would have never believed then that I would experience the happiness that I am now, with my partner, my son and my life in general.”

Positioned well to guide emerging actors navigating celebrity, he adds: “I met some of the Stranger Things kids recently. I say to them ‘do whatever the f*** you want. You have done ‘the thing’. You now have the most amazing jumping off platform.’” He remembers the criticism he encountered, aged 17, during a hiatus from Harry Potter when he appeared nude on stage in the 2007 West End production Equus. He recalls: “It was a very prestigious play. I was not damaging the [Potter] brand in any way. I remember once in the canteen where we were rehearsing someone left a newspaper open and the headline was “Crash. What is that? The sound of a career coming to a grinding halt.’ Looking around the room at amazing actors like Richard Griffiths, I thought ‘if I am screwing up, I could not be screwing-up with better people around me’.”

For Daniel, a far greater hurdle than performing in the buff came when he had to sing and dance for the Broadway rendition of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He chuckles: “Getting naked is easy. Dancing is the scariest thing I have ever done on stage, 100%. I said I could carry a tune but I will not dance. I told them there was zero chance. But they told me I had 18 months and I had to do dance classes. I guess we made it happen, but I want to put it out there – I can’t dance.”

Nevertheless, the role bagged him his Tony award-winning part as Charley Kringas in Merrily We Roll Along. Today, he’s gracing Broadway alongside a rival show featuring his old Hogwarts adversary Tom Felton, who has reprised his role as Draco Malfoy in a stage adaptation of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child. Daniel remarks: “It is surreal to see Tom on a billboard now in Times Square. We met before we were teenagers in Watford doing Potter and we grew up doing all sorts of stuff we should not have been doing. But now, to be both on Broadway at the same time is lovely.”

Daniel acknowledges his fortunate beginning in the Potter films, which has enabled him to accumulate wealth reportedly approaching £100million, yet he still struggles to watch them back. He explains: “I guess I have more time now for me in the early films. When I was 18 I would cringe watching the early ones. Now I think the early films are sweet and I cringe watching myself when I was 18.”

His upcoming role will see him explore homosexuality within the military during the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, he’s determined to shield his son – whose identity he refuses to reveal – from public attention for as long as feasible, though he admits the youngster is beginning to suspect his father appears on television. He reveals: “We were watching the [winter] Olympics recently and an ad for my new TV show popped up. I had left the room and I popped up on the screen and my son went ‘Dada’ in the tone of ‘I am not crazy, right?’ A bunch of kids in our building saw it too and one five year old said ‘I saw you on TV. What were you doing there?’ All I can do is be his uncool, very unimpressive dad for as long as I can. That is the goal.”

*Daniel Radcliffe stars in Every Brilliant Thing at the Hudson Theatre, New York until May 24.

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