Topics: Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, Parenting
Being the star of one of the biggest movie franchises of all time has made Daniel Radcliffe one of the most recognizable actors on the planet, with his Harry Potter moniker still following him 15 years after put down his wand and wizard's robe.
No doubt, having been a part of a number of cool creative projects on stage since leaving Hogwarts, there are times when Radcliffe would rather talk about his Tony-winning performance in musical Merrily We Roll Along, rather than the role he started playing at age 11.
But there is one place on Earth where 36-year-old Radcliffe will not be asked for his best 'wingardium leviosa', that is, at home in New York with partner Erin Darke and their son who he has called 'the literal best thing that ever happened [to me].'
In a recent interview with the New York Times, the Escape from Pretoria actor shared that he wanted to keep his son, who is almost three, from knowing that he is 'The Boy Who Lived' for as long as humanly possible.
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Somehow, he and Darke have managed to avoid any questions of Quidditch, with Radcliffe sharing: "Does my son know who Harry Potter is? No, not yet."
That does not mean it is easy to keep references to the massively popular children's fiction books and films out of the family home, with Radcliffe telling the publication that he had been handed a Harry Potter DVD to sign that could have risked everything.
But, it turned out to be a good test. He told the Times: "So it was sitting on our kitchen table for a couple of days, and at one point he was like next to it. And I was just like, 'Who’s that?'
"I’d see if he recognized me on the cover. And he didn’t, which was great."
While you might think that this is just so that the dad-of-one can get some peace of mind at home without suffering a million movie trivia questions, Radcliffe added the touching and humanizing reason he wanted to keep his house a Harry-free zone.
"For as long as I can just be his dad and he won’t know me as anything else, I will maintain that for as long as I can," he shared, knowing that JK Rowling's world will eventually become inescapable as he gets older.
Instead of the tales of an unloved boy being whisked away to become a wizard from his British homeland, Radcliffe is showing his son one of America's greatest children's authors.
He said that he loves 'reading Dr. Seuss' with his son, with the magic comes from the writer's wild imaginative use of language.
Adding: "My favorite overall is probably “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” because it’s the one where he clearly had a theme, an idea for a theme, and then he gives up on it on about Page 5.
"And just does the wildest, craziest stuff he can think of. And that’s fun."
