‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Kit Harrington Talks “Mental Health Difficulties” Brought On By HBO Series

Matt Grobar
·2 min read
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Two years after the end of Game of Thrones, Kit Harrington is reflecting on the pluses and minuses of his time with the HBO series, specifically addressing how it impacted his mental health.

“I went through…some mental health difficulties after Thrones and during the end of Thrones, to be honest,” the actor said, “and I think it was directly to do with the nature of the show, and what I’ve been doing for years.”

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Harrington’s came during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. In the episode published Monday, he went on to address the time he took off, after the HBO show wrapped. “I think I took sort of a break after Thrones where I said, ‘I don’t want to work for a year. I want to really kind of concentrate on myself,'” he shared, “and I think I’m really happy I did that.”

Harrington added that his perspective on the series has evolved over time. “Part of the journey since it finished…was just becoming proud of that show, and not running away from it,” he said, “not running away from what it was, and who I played in it, but just owning it and being proud of everything about it.”

The actor noted that the Emmy-winning drama “had a real cultural impact,” which is just one of the reasons he now looks back on it fondly. Through it, of course, he was introduced to the actress Rose Leslie, who he wound up marrying in 2018.

“My child is a direct result of Game of Thrones. I still have very, very good friends from that show,” said Harrington. “It did nothing but wonders for me.”

Certainly, this is not the first time Harrington’s GoT-related mental health struggles have been discussed. It was reported back in 2019 that he’d entered rehab to address these very challenges.

In Game of Thrones, the actor played Jon Snow, the character first introduced as the illegitimate son of Eddard “Ned” Stark (Sean Bean), who later arrives at a shocking discovery, regarding his ancestry. The series created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, based on the fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, ran for eight seasons between 2011 and 2019, bringing Harrington his first pair of Emmy nominations.

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