Harry Potter Star Admits to Brain Disorder
August 18, 2008 by Amber
Filed under Daniel Radcliffe
Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe has admitted he suffers from a mild form of dyspraxia, a brain disorder that if often associated with clumsiness and learning difficulties.
The star of J.K. Rowling’s epic series said that while he’s not as affected by the disorder as some sufferers, he still has trouble with simple tasks, like tying his shoelaces and writing.
“I sometimes think, ‘Why, oh why, has Velcro not taken off?’” he joked in a recent interview to promote his Broadway debut in the play Equus.
But it’s not so bad, Radcliffe said, as the dyspraxia was the reason he got into acting – and subsequently won him the role that made him a millionaire before he was 18 – in the first place.
Radcliffe explained that because he wasn’t doing so well at school, he turned his sights to the world of acting, a decision his mother wasn’t originally pleased with.
“My mother said, ‘Oh no you don’t,’” when he first voiced his desire to act at the tender age of five.
However, she finally allowed him to audition for the role of David Copperfield in a BBC version of the Dickens classic to boost his confidence, and the rest, they say, is history.
“I was having a hard time at school in terms of being c**p at everything, with no discernible talent,” Radcliffe said.
