Tom Felton became known worldwide for his role as the evil Draco Malfoy in the saga of tapes of “Harry Potter” and almost immediately gained millions of fans.
But now he has decided to tell the darkest passages of his private life in the book Beyond the Wand: The magic and mayhem of growing up a wizard, confessing, among other things, that he was in rehabilitation three times.
The 35-year-old British actor recounts in his autobiography that his addiction to alcohol began as an escape and that he did not see that it would interfere with his work:
“I went from not being particularly interested in that to regularly having a few glasses of beer a day before the sun went down, and a shot of whiskey to wash down each one.”
At first he didn’t admit to his problem, but after his girlfriend and his team agreed to do an intervention, he agreed to go to rehab in Malibu.
Nevertheless, a few days later, Felton left the place and, looking for a bar, arrived at a gas station, in which a man gave him $20 and a bottle of water, inviting him to reflect on his life. He was in rehab two more times, but eventually got off alcohol.
Tom was very hesitant to confess these experiences in a book, but the actress Emma Watson -who played Hermione Grainger in the saga and whom Tom considers one of his great friends- was the one who encouraged him to do it.
“Emma was such an encouraging force to say, ‘This will resonate with people.’ After cheering myself up, I had more confidence in myself to say, ‘You know what? This happened, and this is part of my life.’ I’m no longer ashamed to raise my hands and say: I’m not okay. To this day, I never know which version of myself I’m going to wake up with.”