- Daniel Radcliffe supports therapy availability on set for young performers, like Ariana Grande suggests
- Daniel Radcliffe mentioned new Harry Potter series team may consider therapy for child actors on set
- Daniel Radcliffe began filming Harry Potter at age 11 and struggled with fame and mental health
British star Daniel Radcliffe, best known for playing young wizard Harry Potter in Warner Bros's eponymous multi-billion dollar film franchise, has been vocal about his struggle with fame, alcohol abuse and mental health as a child actor.
The actor, now 36, started filming the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone when he was just 11 years old.
In a new interview with Bustle, Daniel Radcliffe spoke about how he agrees with singer-actor Ariana Grande that therapy should be available on set for all young performers.
"I think that's a great idea," said the actor, who shot to unprecedented global fame as a child artiste alongside Harry Potter co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in the 2000s.
"Being a child actor is a thing like... whether you not or make it out with a good frame of mind is so much luck. I was so lucky with the parents I have but also with so many people on set who looked after me, being surrounded by the right people at the right time is so important. But I definitely think there have been some really, really tragic stories in the last few years," he added.
Daniel Radcliffe also hinted that the team of the new Harry Potter series might be considering getting therapy for child actors on set.
"And in fact, when I've had some conversations with people that are working on the new Potter series, and I think that that is something that has been ... I don't know, I'm not involved, but I think that's something that they are thinking about this time around as well, which is great," he said.
He argued therapy should be "normalised".
"There was a very young man who took his life, who was a young actor... And in talking to people about why that happened I have seen that thing mentioned is that he was somebody, as I have been through, viewed by people that 'you've got it all', 'you're actor', 'you're so young, you've got money', so you feel like you don't have right to complain. That atmosphere is so hard to get past that actually some sort of mandated therapy would probably be really, really great thing. Normalise it. Start therapy before you need it."
The actor also spoke about his experience as a child actor, adding why he wouldn't want his son to take up acting as a profession. He welcomed his first child with partner-American actor Erin Darke in April 2023.
"I would love my child not to be what I do for many reasons, but one of them is that like, you avoid the nepo baby thing. If you just become a tree surgeon, they'll just do something different, nobody's going to be comparing us," he said.
Earlier, Daniel Radcliffe asked international press to not ask the new Harry Potter series stars Dominic McLaughlin (Harry Potter), Arabella Stanton (Hermione Granger), and Alastair Stout (Ron Weasley) about the original cast.
"When these kids got cast, there is a whole thing around the internet being like, 'We have to look after these kids!'. If you really mean that, then one of the things you can do is don't ask about us - me, Emma and Rupert - all the time.
"I would like not to be weird spectral phantoms in these children's lives. Just let them get on (with it), it's going to be a new, different thing. I'm sure Dominic is going to be better than me," he had said, adding that he wrote a letter to Dominic McLaughlin who sent him a "a very sweet note" back.
All in all, Daniel Radcliffe wants the new Harry Potter trio to have "a better time" than he had working on the films.
Also Read | Harry Potter Star Daniel Radcliffe Becomes A 'Fitness Freak', Reveals Dramatic Body Transformation