Daniel Radcliffe could have coasted by for the rest of his days on the success of Harry Potter, and you wouldn’t begrudge him for doing so, either. The former child star spent a decade fronting what was then the biggest franchise in history, growing up in front of audiences around the world. He’d earned more money by the age of thirteen than most people see in a lifetime, but once Deathly Hallows – Part 2 brought the story to a close, he sought to reinvent himself as one of the most daring young talents in the business.
Based on his fame alone, the 31 year-old could have secured high paying gigs in any number of major studio productions, but instead became one of the most interesting actors around, constantly challenging himself in roles that many of his peers wouldn’t even consider. Since Harry Potter ended, he’s played a murder suspect that gets turned into a horned demon, a farting corpse, an FBI agent undercover as a neo-Nazi, an Israeli adventurer lost in the Amazon, a cocaine-smuggling pilot, a South African political prisoner and a computer programmer with guns bolted onto his hands.
Despite his reputation as a beloved figure, though, and one of the most down to earth and relatable stars in the industry, Radcliffe has actively avoided social media, and in a recent interview, he explained why.
“I would love to say there’s some incredibly thought out intellectual reason for this, because I considered getting a Twitter at one point and I 100% know that if I did, you would all be waking up to stories of ‘Dan Radcliffe gets into a fight with random person on Twitter’.”
J.K. Rowling has discovered firsthand what happens when you face the ire of the Harry Potter fanbase online, although it seems unlikely that they’d ever turn against Daniel Radcliffe to such a degree. However, staying away from social media is probably a smart move in the long run, and also one of the easiest ways to keep out of trouble in Hollywood these days.
