Daniel Radcliffe on past alcohol abuse: 'I would have benefited from not drinking'

Former "Harry Potter" film star Daniel Radcliffe says he regrets the heavy drinking he did before giving up alcohol in 2010.

"I would have benefited from not drinking," Radcliffe, 24, says in an interview scheduled to air on the British channel Sky Arts later this year. "It was not making me as happy as I wanted it to," he added.

Radcliffe, who starred in the title role of the eight "Harry Potter" films from 2001 to 2011, says the drinking stemmed from insecurity over whether he would continue to have an acting career. "It is not a real pressure but it is a pressure of living with the thought, 'Oh, what if all these people are saying I am not going to have a career? What if they are all going to be right and will be laughing and I will be consigned to a bunch of where-are-they-now lists?' "

Following the Harry Potter films, Radcliffe has gone on to star in films such as "The Woman in Black" (2012) and last year's "Kill Your Darlings" as well in three Broadway revivals -- the drama "Equus" (2008-09), the dark comedy "The Cripple of Inishmaan" (2014) and the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (2011) -- earning a Drama Desk Award nomination for each.

"People don't shout 'Harry Potter' at me now; they tend to know my name, which is lovely," Radcliffe says.

"But I always will credit the opportunities I get to Harry Potter," he says. "I would not be a happy person if I was bitter about those 10 years of my life."

Radcliffe said in an interview with British magazine ShortList two years ago that he "was living in constant fear of who I'd meet, what I might have said to them, what I might have done with them, so I'd stay in my apartment for days and drink alone."

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He added "I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic -- it wasn't me. I'm a fun, polite person and it turned me into a rude bore. For a long time people were saying to me, 'We think you have a problem,' but in the end I had to come to the realization myself."