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Daniel Radcliffe on being a first-time dad: 'It's awesome, yet terrifying!'

By John Patrick Magno Ranara Published Oct 13, 2023 5:36 pm

Daniel Radcliffe is both elated and nervous in being a father for the first time.

The Harry Potter star got real about his experiences with parenthood months after he welcomed his first baby with his girlfriend Erin Darke in April, sharing that it's "terrifying" and "awesome" at the same time.

"He's great, it's amazing. It's awesome and he's the best thing that's ever happened," Radcliffe said of his son in an interview with E! News amid the opening night of his show Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway.

But not everything is a bowl of cherries for the first-time parent, as he confessed, "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."

Despite the nerve-wracking responsibilities on his shoulders, the 34-year-old actor is learning a lot of "surprising" things along the way, such as how he and his son have very different sleeping habits.

"There's no relation to what we need for sleep," Radcliffe shared. "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."

Despite joking that his son can be a "creature that can give you the worst night of your life" from time to time, the love he has for him knows no bounds.

"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," he said.

"It's been a really wonderful year, and I couldn't wish to be in a better place," he added.

Radcliffe and Darke have been together since their meeting on the Kill Your Darlings set in 2012.

Radcliffe is best known for his role in the Harry Potter series. He was 12 when he was cast as the bespectacled boy wizard in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001. He went on to appear in all eight films based on the books written by JK Rowling.