Alcoholism is a deadly disease, one that can kill the imbiber both during active addiction and during withdrawal. Therefore, we should applaud Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe for beating the urges to pour assorted liquors down his throat. He’s embracing both recovery and a healthier lifestyle instead, something that’s hard for a lot of young actors in Hollywood to do.

Radcliffe joined Marc Maron on his WTF podcast this week to chat about the movie business as well as his dangerous addiction to alcohol, a habit which he broke in 2013. He remains sober to this day. Radcliffe says his alcoholism became rampant while he was still filming the Potter films, and it was after the series ended that he had to take a hard look at his booze intake.

I was living alone, and I think I was really freaked out. I drank a lot. I think it was more to do with going out in public and having a battle within me of thinking no, I can have a totally normal life.

Back in 2012, Radcliffe admitted that he was still drunk during some of his Harry Potter scenes in an interview with Heat magazine. These days, though, Radcliffe is content living the sober life.

“You get bored of waking up feeling like that,” he told Maron.

(via WTF podcast)