Daniel Radcliffe Warns Celebrities Against Twitter and Facebook

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has said that celebrities should not expect privacy if they share every moment of their lives on social networking sites such as Twitter.

The 24-year-old told Sky News there were ways that celebrities could protect their privacy.

"There are certain things you can do to make it a lot easier on yourself," explained Radcliffe. "If you don't, for instance, go to premieres that aren't for a film you're in, or don't just turn up at other events and stuff like that, then that's going to help to not fuel the interest."

"I don't have Twitter and I don't have Facebook and that makes things a lot easier because if you go on Twitter and tell everybody what you're doing moment to moment and then claim you want a private life, then no one is going to take that request seriously," he added.

The Equus actor, who found global fame at the age of 11 after winning the lead role in the film adaptation of JK Rowling's bestselling book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, said that earlier in his career he resented the attention that came with the global success of the franchise.

"When I was 18 or 19 there was definitely a level of frustration around. I did have to think where I went more than a lot of my friends and you do get a little frustrated around that age, but ultimately it's childish, petulant.

"People always say to me, 'Do you feel like you missed out on a childhood? Do you feel like you had your childhood taken away?' And I'm like 'No, ridiculous... kids who are abused have their childhoods taken away from them'."

Radcliffe admitted he had a "chip on his shoulder" about landing the coveted Potter role as an unknown and feels he needs to prove himself again.

"When you fall into a position when you're 11 years old, you do tend to think that you were lucky to get there," he said. "And I think there's a sense that you just fell into it and that you rode the wave and carried on.

"People always say 'oh he's got a chip on his shoulder' like it's a bad thing. I think it's a perfectly good thing if you let it motivate you. And that's not what I'm about. I don't know how many people think like that - there may be none, there may be millions, but it doesn't matter. It fires you up."

Radcliffe stars in the second series of A Young Doctor's Notebook on Sky Arts 1.