Rupert Grint admits he found first-time fatherhood ‘isolating’ and ‘quite traumatising’

Harry Potter star Rupert Grint has spoken candidly about the realities of becoming a father for the first time, admitting to finding the experience “quite traumatising”.

The former child star, best known for his performance as Ron Weasley in the blockbuster wizarding film series, has two kids with fellow actor Georgia Groome.

Grint’s latest role sees him play a new dad in Nightborn, a film by Finnish filmmaker Hanna Bergholm that mixes folklore with an exploration of postpartum depression.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Grint, 37, admitted that the themes in the film had resonated with his experience of becoming a father for the first time to eldest daughter Wednesday in May 2020.

“It really taps into being a parent. The fear of the dangers and the baby getting hurt – something being not quite normal. I definitely had it with Wednesday,” he explained.

“Those first few months can be quite isolating. It’s a terrible feeling when it should be the most amazing thing, but it can be quite traumatising.”

While both Grint and Groome spent their younger years in the spotlight – he as the Harry Potter megastar, her as the lead actor in cult teen comedy Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging – they have largely stepped back from the spotlight as adults.

While Grint has appeared in the Apple TV+ series Servant and M Night Shyamalan’s film Knock at the Cabin, Nightborn marks his first return in an on-screen lead role in years.

In that time, Grint has focused on parenthood. Speaking about becoming a parent to Wednesday in 2021, he said: “It was something I never really had much of an idea of, that kind of love.

“It's a very different love. It's very strange. It definitely has kind of changed my perspective on things but also in a helpful way.”

Last April, Grint announced that the couple had welcomed their second child. “‘Secret Child Slightly Revealed,’” he joked. “Introducing Goldie G. Grint. A 10/10 baby (so far).”

Speaking about his acting career in another interview, Grint said that he wanted to keep it going at his own pace, with hopes to work on “one thing every year”.

Of his return to the screen in Nightborn, Grint offered a warning to Harry Potter fans, telling them that if they were expecting to see him play a similar character to Ron Weasley, they would be in for a pretty big surprise. “It does go against the warmth of Ron,” he told Variety.