Daniel Radcliffe has blamed his drinking habits on his role as Harry Potter.

He made the candid revelation on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs to 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, adding that his role as Harry Potter “carried some kind of interest for people and also a slightly mocking interest. It’s inherently funny for people.”

He said that he didn’t like how he felt, but that “the way of dealing with that is just to drink more or get more drunk, so I did a lot of that for a few years”.

He went on to say that he wasn’t sure if he drank due of his position or just because of his personality.

“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,” he said.

“You can also just see people go to drugs and drink because it’s fun and they’re available and it seems like a good idea, and there’s nobody around you talking about the consequences or being honest about that,” Daniel added.

Despite his anxiety about his career after “Harry Potter,” Radcliffe admits that drinking runs in his family, so “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’? I will never know. It runs in my family, generations back. Definitely not my mum and dad, I hasten to add.”

Radcliffe, who has been clean since 2010, credited his on-set family and friends for giving him “enough perspective on my life” to help him get through difficult moments.

It’s not the first time the actor has discussed his struggles with fame and attention, as well as determining what to do once he no longer portrayed the character that made him famous.

“In my case, the quickest way to forget about the fact that you’re being watched is to get very drunk,” he told Off Camera last year.

“And then as you get very drunk, you become aware that ‘Oh, people are watching more now because now I’m getting very drunk, so I should probably drink more to ignore that more.'”

Radcliffe recently performed in the action comedy “Guns Akimbo” and is currently appearing in a production of Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame” at The Old Vic in London. Because of the worsening coronavirus pandemic in the UK, the play, which also stars Alan Cumming, is being finished two weeks early.