Actor Tom Felton, who rose to fame as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter saga, published his autobiography called Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard.
The truths he told in his book
In his book, he not only tells of the “secret love” he has for Emma Watson, but also reveals the most difficult moments of his life when he was an alcoholic. He explains that alcohol was his biggest refuge when he was trying to escape from the mental situation he was in. This same problem led him three times to check into rehab.
His lawyer encouraged him
Tom Felton says that at that time his current partner organized a meeting with his parents to try to convince him to seek help, but to no avail. However, it was the words of his lawyer that encouraged him to go to rehab:
“My lawyer who I had barely seen in person spoke to me in a very honest way: ‘I don’t know you very well, but you seem like a nice guy. I just want to tell you that this is the 17th intervention that I have done in my career for this reason. Eleven of those people are dead. Don’t be number twelve.’”
First rehabilitation
With these strong words, Felton decided to enter a center in Malibu where he remained only 24 hours. The second time he was expelled for bad behavior and, although he managed to be stable, years later he relapsed.
The third time, for him, was the “hardest decision he had to make”, but he is glad he made the right decision. He admits that alcohol was always the easy way out.
“Just as we all experience physical problems in our lives, we also have mental ones. There is no need to be ashamed of it. It is not a sign of weakness,” he wrote in his book.
“We all need it in one way or another, so why isn’t it normal to talk honestly about our feelings?”