Daniel Radcliffe, 36, revealed that he used to “run on coffee and cigarettes all day” before giving up smoking and adopting a disciplined fitness routine, telling WSJ. Magazine that he’s now “pretty intense” about exercise. “I do weights, circuit training, cardio. I don’t look like a person who would be a fitness freak, but I’m pretty intense about it,” the former Harry Potter star said.
“I feel like I’m a cliché of a former alcoholic or anyone who had any kind of addictive personality and then switched that addiction to being about the gym.”
Radcliffe, who stars alongside Tracy Morgan in NBC’s new comedy The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, first opened up about his sobriety in 2012, describing alcohol as “the easiest way to escape being self-conscious.” He added, “I used to run on coffee and cigarettes all day, and then I gave up smoking. Now I just run on coffee all day.”
Fatherhood has also reshaped his daily routine. Radcliffe and longtime girlfriend Erin Darke have a two-year-old son, whose night-light signals him to wake up at 6:30am, prompting the actor to rise early. “I have a small child, so my body has trained to wake up at about 5:30,” he said. “At 6:30 it will flick from blue to yellow and I will hear him scream, ‘It’s yellow, COME GET ME!’”
Reflecting on his early fame, Radcliffe praised the supportive environment on the Harry Potter set, crediting his stable upbringing and the long-term crew for helping him and his co-stars, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, avoid the scandals often associated with child actors. “I honestly wouldn’t want my son to act or to become famous,” he said. “I’m also so aware of how tricky it can be … we were surrounded by a group of people that really cared about us. I was really lucky with my parents. They had the right balance of being like, This is all really special and really cool, but also there’s some stuff about this that is really weird.”
Radcliffe’s story highlights his shift from addictive habits to a disciplined lifestyle, balancing career, fitness, and family life.
