How Sophie Turner's Live-In Therapist Helped Her Eating Disorder Recovery
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Actress Sophie Turner is opening up about her experience with an eating disorder in a new interview with Elle UK.
Sophie, who has a 1-year-old daughter and is expecting her second child with her husband Joe Jonas, told Elle UK that she previously struggled with an eating disorder for "a long time." She also noted that her struggles were sparked by social media.
“I have a love-hate relationship with social media. I wish I’d never got myself involved with it in the first place,” the pregnant 26-year-old said. “I look at the comments on Instagram and think, ‘Oh, f–k. Everyone thinks this about me.’ It would completely consume me.”
Sophie, who played Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, shared in 2019 on the “Phil in the Blanks” podcast that “people used to say, ‘Damn, Sansa gained 10 pounds’ or ‘Damn, Sansa needs to lose 10 pounds’ or ‘Sansa got fat.’" She would take the comments to heart. “I would just believe it… I just got very, very self-conscious.”
Social media makes the star anxious, and she said during the Elle interview, that she had deleted Instagram for the time being.
Sophie still sees a therapist once a week.
When Sophie was battling her eating disorder, she brought in full-time help: a live-in therapist or "companion," as she called it, who "would ensure I wasn’t doing anything unhealthy with my eating habits," she said.
It's unclear when, exactly, this occurred, but Sophie knew to reach out for help when she needed it. And this tactic seemed to be really helpful for her.
In one instance, Sophie said she kept “playing over and over in my mind a comment I’d seen on Instagram. I was like, ‘I’m so fat, I’m so undesirable,’ and spinning out.'” Sophie said her live-in therapist helped in that moment. ‘She said to me, ‘You know, no one actually cares. I know you think this, but nobody else is thinking it. You’re not that important,’” Sophie recalled. “That was the best thing anyone could have told me.”
And she still goes to therapy every week, she told Elle.
"It’s manageable now—I have the tools," she said. "I know what’s good for me and what’s not good for me. I know what I have to do to get myself in a good headspace. It’s not debilitating—I know how to get myself out of it."
FWIW, Sophie seems really, really happy right now. “We’re so excited to be expanding the family. It’s the best blessing ever,” she said.
Congratulations, Sophie and Joe!
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