Young ‘Game of Thrones’ Star Reveals She Was ‘Suicidal’ Over Online Criticism

Sophie Turner, the young actress who plays “Sansa” in HBO’s popular “Game of Thrones” series is opening up with her struggles with mental health and the effects of online criticism.

According to Fox News:

In a candid interview with Dr. Phil on his podcast — Phil in the Blanks — Tuesday, the “Game of Thrones” star revealed that she started suffering from depression when she was 17 years old, just four years after she began filming for the hit HBO show.

“I was so in love with [‘Game of Thrones’]… I couldn’t believe I was going to get paid for it… Everything was incredible,” Turner began to explain to Dr. Phil. “It only started to kind of go downhill I think when I started to hit puberty, really puberty though at like 17, and my metabolism was slowing down massively, and I was gaining weight, and there was social media scrutiny and everything — and that’s when it kind of hit me.”

Puberty is a tough and emotional time for most girls. Personally, I cannot IMAGINE dealing with a nation-wide audience scrutinizing my body as I underwent such a personal process.

Turner explained that people would scrutinize her appearance and acting abilities, which affected her. “You see 10 great comments and you ignore them, but one negative comment and it just like throws you off.”

While on a much smaller scale, I can actually relate to this. Writing for a website like this one often leaves my opinions – and my looks – exposed for others to judge.

Sure, I know better than to let it affect me. But that doesn’t mean that unnecessarily cruel comments don’t sting from time to time – especially when they touch on an existing insecurity.

Yes, we ALL have them.

“… People used to say, ‘Damn, Sansa gained 10 lbs’ or ‘Sansa needs to lose 10 lbs or ‘Sansa got fat,'” she recalled. “It was just a lot of weight comments, or I would have spotty skin, because I was a teenager, and that’s normal, and I used to get a lot of comments about my skin and my weight and how I wasn’t a good actress and things like that.

“I would just believe it,” Turner continued. “I would just say, ‘Yeah, I am spotty. I am fat. I am a bad actress.’ I just believed it.”

That’s tough. And I think as women, many of us can relate to those feelings.

Thankfully, the star feels “much better” now. “I’ve been doing therapy… I’m on medication and I love myself now, or more than I used to, I think.”

She credits fiancé Joe Jonas for helping her as well. “I [sometimes] don’t think I love myself at all, but I’m now with someone that makes me realize that I do have some redeeming qualities, I suppose.

“And when someone tells you they love you every day, it makes you really think about why that is and I think that makes you love yourself a bit more. So yeah, I love myself.”

Before anyone goes off on how “weak” or “stupid” she is, I’d like to mention that Sophie was a LITTLE GIRL when she started playing the role… and that many of those who like to toot their own horns about “tough skin” and “not giving a crap about what others think” get awfully offended when someone disagrees with them in the comments. I’ve seen it COUNTLESS times. Y’all should see how many comments “tough conservatives” report on our Facebook pages. No one likes to get beat down.

Wanting to be liked and accepted is a pretty natural human feeling. Most people who pretend not to give ANY crap what others think of them are actually full of crap themselves.

…and most of them have never had to face this level of criticism on a national scale.

So yeah- I feel for her, and I’m glad she’s opening up about this. It makes people – especially young women- realize they’re not alone in their insecurities. And that maybe, just maybe, you have nothing to be insecure about in the first place.