Just over twenty years ago he achieved worldwide fame playing the antagonist of the famous English wizard Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy . Tom Felton was just 14 at the time .

But when the cinematic saga with its eight films came to an end, he found himself alone with his demons, with several doors slammed in his face and many doubts about his abilities. And the bottle has increasingly become a consolation, as he recounts in his autobiography "Without the wand" (published in Italy by Vallardi).

“I went from not being particularly interested in alcohol to regularly drinking a few pints a day before the sun even set, and even a few shots of whiskey to wash it all down,” he explains. My alcoholism has gotten to the point of driving me to drink even while I was working . I showed up on set unprepared. I was no longer the professional I wanted to be."

“First of all, I was faced with the fact that I wasn't that good at acting – he continues -. Auditioning at 12 is one thing (sort of making sure you don't look down on tape or forget your lines) but as an adult it's very different. In Los Angeles – where he moved in his twenties, ed – there were three auditions a day, different scripts, different accents and dialects, skills I hadn't put into practice. I got many no's, and before I'd even said a word, I could often see them thinking, 'Don't take him, he's one of the children in the Harry Potter saga' ».

Today he says he got out of it thanks to rehabilitation treatment and the help of friends, including "Hermione Granger", i.e. the actress Emma Watson with whom he has formed a beautiful friendship since the days of the Harry Potter films.

And he says: «I am lucky for the life I have. A life where love, family and friends come first. It does not escape me that their importance is indeed one of the greatest lessons of the Harry Potter stories. Realizing that is what really makes me a very rich man."

(Unioneonline/D)

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