Fame? Sometimes I just want to escape to B&Q, says Potter star
WHEN celebrities want to escape the pressures of fame, they usually opt for five- star resorts or exclusive hideaways.
But Harry Potter star Rupert Grint longs for an anonymous trip somewhere a little bit closer to home … a DIY chain.
The actor, now 30, found international fame as at the age of 11 with the role of Ron Weasley. But success came at a price and he admits: ‘I struggle to remember life before it. It was a weird time and it has taken me a long while to process.
‘Just being invisible can still be difficult. Sometimes you just want to go to B&Q.
‘I think I lost myself a little bit along the way. With the fame, you’re almost being the character, even when you’re not in character.’
The star – who will appear as Inspector Crome in Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders on BBC1 on Boxing Day – took a break after the film franchise ended in 2007. He said: ‘After Potter I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.
‘I had this feeling that I had missed out on normal things. I lost touch with a lot of my friends from school. I wanted to have a bit of a life again, so I took a break.
‘I’ve never really been superambitious. I think there’s always been something in me, particularly when I finished Potter, that wants to prove myself, but I’m also naturally quite an insecure person.’
Grint earned about £28million from the film versions of JK Rowling’s books, which he starred in alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.
But he told Radio Times: ‘I actually don’t know how much [money] I have … I couldn’t even really guess. It doesn’t really motivate me too much. It makes you comfortable, that’s the good thing about it. I’m glad it’s there but I’m not really that focused on it.’