Dafne Keen has been acting since she was just 9 years old — and she’s seen a thing or two.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been drunk enough to even have a hangover. I’m such a control freak with that,” Keen, 21, revealed on the Tuesday, November 3, episode of the “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum” podcast. “Because also I think as a child actor I witnessed so much of that as a child that I just had no interest.”
When host Michael Rosenbaum asked whether she’d witnessed “a lot of drinking” as a kid in the industry, Keen said yes — and more.
“I was getting offered coke at wrap parties,” she said. “Like, tiny. Like 11, 12, 13. So I saw what that was, so I was like, ‘I don’t really have any interest in that.’”
Rosenbaum, 54, was shocked by Keen’s bombshell, responding, “11 or 12? Man, I didn’t start that early.”
“Well, me neither,” Keen explained. “I was saying no, fortunately.”
Keen made her acting debut on BBC’s The Refugees in 2014 when she was 9. She starred on the short-lived series throughout 2015 when she was 10 years old.
The Spanish-British actress made her big splash in Hollywood two years later when she played Laura and X-23 alongside Hugh Jackman in Logan. Keen later reprised the role in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
During her teenage years, Keen starred on HBO’s His Dark Materials, playing the lead role Lyra Silvertongue/Lyra Belacqua from 2019 to 2022. She also portrayed Jecki Lon on Disney+’s The Acolyte in 2024.
In addition to being exposed to drug culture as a kid, Keen said she actively avoided illegal substances as a teen by fibbing about her sobriety.
“I did used to lie as a teenager so that I wouldn’t get peer pressured,” she shared on the podcast. “I’d be like, ‘Nah, I’m good. I don’t wanna drink. I already took something.’ Dead sober. Like, the goodest goody-two-shoes ever. I was like, ‘Oh my God, no I’m already so high.’ Literally had, like, a Coca-Cola.”
Despite forgoing party favors, Keen was adamant that she has a very good social life.
“I would say I’m a fun time,” the Whistle star said. “I don’t really need it. I’ll go out and stay out ‘til 6 but sober. Just for the vibes, just ‘cause I like music and I like dancing and I like people.”
While Keen didn’t name names of the people who were offering her drugs as a child, she did praise Jackman, 58, for how much he protected her while filming Logan.
“He gave me a lot of really positive reinforcement and a lot of really good advice. And he was always so lovely,” she told Rosenbaum of the Greatest Showman actor. “He’s the best number one you could ever wish for. And he’s the best on-screen dad. He genuinely felt like a sort of parental figure.”
Keen gushed about Jackman’s ability to make her feel safe on set, adding, “He made sure that no one was abusing my hours, that I was having fun on set, that I wasn’t aware of any tensions that would’ve been happening behind the scenes.”
She added, “He was so incredibly protective and amazing.”
