Actor Daniel Radcliffe has opened up about life as a new father, revealing that, while his son is 'awesome,' it has been 'terrifying to have a human being in the world that he cares' so 'much about.'
Becoming a parent for the first time can be incredibly daunting even with the free baby stuff you can get as a new parent. There's baby names to think about, the cost of having a baby to handle, and the unnecessary baby products to weed out from the ones you absolutely must have.
These are all things 34-year-old Daniel Radcliffe had to navigate when he welcomed his first child with partner Erin Darke, 38, earlier this year. But he appears to be taking to his new role as a dad with ease. He's already been named one of the top 10 most influential celebrity parents and his son has reached an 'awesome' milestone that the new father said is a 'real privilege' to watch.
The actor has now opened up in a rare interview about the 'terrifying' emotions he feels towards his son, sharing that it's 'intimidating' to think about how 'everything his son does is going to affect how' he feels 'about his life for the rest of his life.'
When asked about how his son is doing by E! News at the premiere of his new Broadway show Merrily We Roll Along, the actor revealed, "He’s great, it’s amazing. There’s a short answer and a long answer to that. And the short answer is it’s awesome and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened.
"It’s frankly terrifying to have a human being in the world that I care this much about. And that everything he does is going to affect how I feel about my life for the rest of my life. So, you know, that’s intimidating.”
But despite of, or perhaps because of, the new and incredibly strong feelings growing in Radcliffe's heart, he sweetly added that, since his son's birth, it's 'been a really wonderful year' and he 'couldn’t wish to be in a better place.'
However, he did share that he's experiencing some troubles, specifically when it comes to sleeping. “There’s no relation to what we need for sleep," he said, referring to how sleep affects adults and babies differently. "The less I sleep, the more I sleep at night. But the less they sleep, the less they sleep! And the more they sleep, the better they sleep! It makes no sense, but it is apparently how they work.
“The fact that there is a creature in the world that can give you the worst night of your life. And then you wake up in the morning and go over to them and they turn around and smile and you’re like, ‘I don’t care about any of the things you just did.’ That’s pretty cool.”
Daniel and long-term partner Erin Drake welcomed their baby boy into the world nearly a decade after meeting and kindling a relationship back in 2012. Despite the long relationship and growing family, the couple are not married and Drake admitted that there's no plans for wedding to happen anytime soon.
Instead, the couple are thinking much further into the future and have previously shared their hopes for their son to grow up around movie sets, though perhaps avoid actually acting on them.
Speaking about his son and anymore kids he may have, Daniel previously told Newsweek: “I would love them to be around film sets.
“A dream would be for them to come onto a film set and be like, ‘God, you know, I’d love to be in the art department. I’d love to be something in the crew’. Some part of this, but not from that.
“Film sets are wonderful places. I think a lot of the time it can be wonderful for kids. But it’s really the fame side of it that should be avoided at all costs.”
