Beloved ‘Harry Potter’ Actor Robbie Coltrane Now Confined To A Wheelchair
Most people know him as the gruff but lovable character Rubeus Hagrid from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, but actor Robbie Coltrane has bigger problems these days than a noseless villain and a forest full of overgrown spiders.
As the Independent reports, Coltrane has been suffering from steadily worsening osteoarthritis, and the pain has become so bad that the 68-year-old now spends most of his time confined to a wheelchair.
Coltrane appeared at Universal Studios in Orlando last week to see the launch of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike ride, and it was the first time he was seen publicly seated in a wheelchair because of the chronic pain the disease has been causing him.
Even so, Coltrane being known most prominently for his role as Hagrid, the half-giant who looks out for titular character Harry and his friends and always fighting on the side of good, fans were thrilled to see him at the event.
Despite the pain, Metro UK reports that Coltrane was in “good spirits” as he watched on at the launch. While there, he also addressed his current condition, explaining what doctors are planning on doing for him to relieve the horrendous amount of pain he is clearly living with day in and day out.
Crippling condition leaves Harry Potter actor Robbie Coltrane confined to wheelchairhttps://t.co/7ynuFERdnj pic.twitter.com/9ADgolEvkc
— Mirror Celeb (@MirrorCeleb) March 14, 2019
According to an unnamed source who spoke to Metro UK, Coltrane explained that he is “due a new knee.”
“Robbie has been in constant pain for years now, with his knee constantly deteriorating. He was wheeled in and out of the Harry Potter event on Monday which came as a big shock to fans given they’re so used to seeing him standing strong and tall as Hagrid.”
Coltrane first spoke up about his battle with the degenerative joint disease in 2016 when he explained that he was in “constant pain all day” as a result of it.
“I had an exploratory operation and they discovered I had no cartilage left in one of my knees. It’s completely disintegrated. And they told me it’s osteoarthritis,” Coltrane said three years ago.
Given the lack of cartilage — which is there to create a soft and spongy buffer for movement in the joint — and the fact that he has continued to degenerate since 2016, it makes perfect sense then that the actor needs surgery to give him a “new knee” at this point, as he so aptly put it.
Coltrane is looking forward to being back to his old self, joking at the Universal Studios launch that he’ll be “leaping around like an elf” once the doctors perform the surgery he so desperately needs.
Here’s hoping we have our old Hagrid back soon!
