Did Daniel Radcliffe really sign a baby contract with J.K. Rowling?

Nothing about the breakout success of Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe and billion-dollar author J.K. Rowling is what you would call normal, so why would anything else be? 

Thanks to a viral video on TikTok purporting the former promised the latter his firstborn child (yes, you read that correctly), the pair have found themselves entangled in ways neither could have likely predicted. Over 2.2 million people have viewed the video, uploaded by TikTok user @bullsnosenews, with more than a few having taken to the comments section to inquire about its legitimacy.

Radcliffe, now in his 30s, has enjoyed a successful acting career on both the big and small screen, but his biggest role to date comes following news that he is welcoming a baby wizard of his own into the world with longtime girlfriend Erin Darke, whom he met on the set of Kill Your Darlings in 2013. 

Rowling, for her part, has been busy as well, but for entirely different reasons. The author has spent the last half-decade fighting off accusations of transphobia — accusations which originated after she vehemently doubled down on assertions that sex is real, transgender women should not have the same rights as biological women, and that gender-affirming care for transgender youth should be avoided, not encouraged. 

The pair’s paths converged once more in April 2023 after Warner Bros. Discovery announced the official serialized reboot of Harry Potter on HBO Max, thus adding fuel to the fire that is the viral baby contract rumor. One can’t help but wonder if the rumor has merit or if the whole thing is just a hoax. Well, we did some digging so you don’t have to. Here’s what we found out.

What is the baby contract rumor between Radcliffe and Rowling, and how did it start?

The alleged baby contract rumor began when TikTok user @bullsnosenews posted a video on March 26 asserting that Daniel Radcliffe promised J.K. Rowling the rights to his firstborn child when he signed his Harry Potter contract at age 10.

Now that Radcliffe is expecting his first child with Darke, @bullsnosenews claims that Rowling is adamant Radcliffe hand over what was promised. However, because Radcliffe was a minor when he signed the contract, @bullsnosenews states the actor is reluctant to follow through. 

The video then goes on to say that Rowling will “come for the child either way” and that Radcliffe must honor the contract he signed. “My contracts are iron tight. Not even love will protect this child,” says Rowling according to @bullsnosenews. 

When asked how Radcliffe would protect his child from the author, the actor said, “I don’t know. Probably just say it is trans or something. That’ll disarm her, I reckon. Expelliarmus.” 

Is there any truth to the rumor?

In the age of the internet, it can be difficult to know what is true and what is false. More often than not, false information is spread either unknowingly or intentionally. Other times, though, it’s all just fun and games with no serious intent. Enter: parody accounts. 

Parody accounts tend to have disclaimers attached to their profile bios, as is the case with @bullsnosenews. “Here Lies The Truth, News You Can Trust,” the account bio reads. And then right underneath that, “Satire/Parody.”

It takes only a single glance at the comments section of the video to see that the wool hasn’t been completely pulled over the public’s eyes, though. Some clearly understand it to be satirical, but others, not so much. 

“I genuinely can’t tell if this is real or not,” wrote one TikTok user. 

“Literally had to look this up to confirm cause everything is on fire n anything can be true at this point,” wrote another. 

To set the record straight — no, the viral video about Daniel Radcliffe signing a “baby contract” with J.K. Rowling is not real. It is nothing more than a parody post meant to entertain the masses. Radcliffe has not signed any sort of contract, nor has Rowling made demands for such.