rHodas: Daniel Radcliffe Reveals Recent Drinking Problem

Friday, July 8, 2011

Daniel Radcliffe Reveals Recent Drinking Problem

'Harry Potter' star tells GQ magazine he got caught up in 'Hollywood lifestyle.'
By Jocelyn Vena

Daniel Radcliffe
Photo: Gustavo Caballero/ Getty Images

Daniel Radcliffe has opened up about giving in to one of the pitfalls of fame. In the new issue of GQ magazine, the actor reveals that while shooting "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," he drank a lot on set.

"I became so reliant on [alcohol] to enjoy stuff," he says of making the 2009 film. "I really got away with that because there were many instances when a paparazzi shot like that could have been taken."

The Broadway star goes on to explain that he was caught up in the Hollywood lifestyle. "There were a few years there when I was just so enamored with the idea of living some sort of famous person's lifestyle that really isn't suited to me," he says before noting that he decided to get clean in 2010 while filming the final installments of the "Harry Potter" films, the last of which hits theaters July 15.

"There's no shame in enjoying a quiet life. And that's been the realization of the past few years for me," he says. "As much as I would love to be a person that goes to parties and has a couple of drinks and has a nice time, that doesn't work for me. I'd just rather sit at home and read, or go out to dinner with someone, or talk to someone I love, or talk to somebody that makes me laugh. And the "Deathly Hallows" star tells the magazine that he now has the company of that special someone. "I'm actually enjoying the fact that I can have a relationship with my girlfriend [Olive Uniacke], where I'm really pleasant and not f---ed up totally all the time."

In an interview with MTV News last year, Radcliffe talked about having young fans that look up to him, noting, "I don't look at myself as a role model. I would never place myself on that pedestal. The thing I always say and I've often said in interviews, if people want a role model, Harry Potter's a very, very good role model. He'll be fixed in that permanent lovely way, and so those are the role models you want."

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