Radcliffe is now 30 and worth around 90 million pounds. The actor reveals what it was like as he was growing older and realising his future may not be very stable:
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“I definitely think a lot of the drinking that happened towards the end of Potter, and for a little bit after it finished, it was panic and not knowing what to do next, and not being comfortable enough in who I was to remain sober.”
This is not an uncommon phenomenon for celebrities growing up in the spotlight, so many Disney alumni and famous young faces have gone through periods of uncertainty, much like any young adult. But rather, their coping mechanisms were immediately outed to the public. Radcliffe told Radio 4's Desert Island Discs:
"If I went out and if I got drunk I'd suddenly be aware of there being an interest in that. Because it's not just like a drunk guy, it's 'Oh Harry Potter's getting drunk in the bar' and that carries its own kind of interest for people and also a slightly mocking interest because it is inherently funny for people."
The ‘Swiss Army Man’ actor admitted that he would deal with the public pressure by drinking more and was lucky enough to have made the steadfast decision of giving up alcohol altogether at the age of 20. However, he wonders till whether or not his alcohol abuse was a result of fame or just a hereditary coincidence:
“But I will always be fascinated and frustrated by the question of, is this something that would have happened anyway or was this to do with Potter? But I will never know. It runs in my family, generations back. Definitely not my mum and dad, I hasten to add that”
However, years on and with an acting career well extending beyond his Potter past, Daniel Radcliffe still seems to suffer from guilt about his success and feels out of place in audition rooms:
“I'll always have a part of my brain that is going – when I first walk into a rehearsal room – 'Everyone just thinks you are here because of Harry Potter', and in a large part, they are right..."
"I have been insanely lucky and I think probably I have a vague sense of guilt about having something so amazing happen to you so young.”
