Lena Headey Battled Postpartum Depression While Filming ‘Game of Thrones’

Lena Headey is perhaps best known as the fierce and cold-blooded Cersei Lannister on HBO’s Game of Thrones.

The reigning Queen of the Seven Kingdoms recently sat down with her co-star Maisie Williams for an interview with Net-a-Porter’s The Edit.

Photographed by Stefano Galuzzi for The EDIT
Photographed by Stefano Galuzzi for The EDIT

Headey opened up about her struggle with postpartum depression after giving birth to her son in 2010. Soon after, she started filming Season 1 of GoT and admitted the experience was “really horrendous.”

She continued, “I was postnatally depressed, but I didn’t know it. I saw a doctor for the medical check, and I just burst into tears. She said I was postnatally depressed, and I went, ‘Am I? Why is that?'”

The actress sought help after being diagnosed, but the road ahead still wasn’t easy. She added, “I saw a great guy, and he sorted me out, but I did the first year [of Game of Thrones] in that space, figuring out motherhood and going through a weird time personally. It was tricky.”

Fast-forward through six seasons of GoT and Cersei’s character on the show is still as bloodthirsty as ever. But there was one death that left Lena devastated.

She said: “Last season I was doing [postproduction] in L.A. and watched Hodor’s death. I was just weeping. The technician said, ‘Are you OK?’ and I went, ‘I didn’t know, I didn’t know he died.’ I was beside myself, genuinely heartbroken.”

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