Daniel Radcliffe on childhood, dating, and fame

Despite reaching fame at age 11, Daniel Radcliffe assures everyone that he still managed to live a fairly private life during his childhood and teenage years. The actor says he experienced first kisses, dates, and other “normal teenage activities” privately and comfortably.

“I think people always imagined that I didn’t have a childhood or I missed out on some stuff, and I’m sure I had a very different childhood, but all those first dates and first kisses, those rites of passage, I still had them, and they were actually generally really private. I don’t feel like I have to share them with the world, and I felt like they were really my own, which is nice,” Radcliffe explained.

The Harry Potter actor also recalled his first proper date, explaining the need to wear a cap to avoid being recognized.

“I just went out with a cap on, and you have to hope that the person you’re dating is understanding and not made to feel awkward by someone coming up or anything like that, but you just do it. That was always the weird thing,” he said while speaking on an episode of The Jess Cagle Interview.

Now 26, the child actor also says that life is “hilariously mundane” at times. “We’re always doing hilariously mundane s**t. They never get me doing anything interesting, so the headline has to be like, ‘They bought a yoga mat!'”

Meanwhile, the star actively avoids reading online comments made about him in an attempt to keep his spirits up. He added: “Sometimes I go through an unhealthy phase where I do read quite a lot [about myself]. Then I go through phases, like where I am at the moment, where I’m good and I don’t and it generally makes me happier. I always wonder why I go back.”

The actor continued: “What it normally starts of with is, I do an interview and I’m a bit worried about it. So I look it up and think, ‘Oh what’s that person written?’ and I click on it and it’s something awful and I’m like, ‘Oh man, why did I do this to myself? It’s stupid and I shouldn’t.”