She’s an open book. Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey opened up to More magazine in its April 2015 cover story about grappling with “massive grief” following her divorce from ex-husband Peter Loughran.
The star, 41, was married to the musician for six years before the parents to 5-year-old son Wylie finalized their divorce in 2013. Two years later, Headey is still coming to terms with the split. “It’s tough,” she told the mag. “There’s a lot of hurt and sadness and disappointment. Grief. Massive grief. It’s a mourning process, and yet nobody’s died.”
Headey also opened up about her personal battle with depression. “I haven’t had a spell in a long time,” the star revealed. “I think some people’s brains are just wired that way if you’re a thinker. People who never get anxious always amaze me. The world could be breaking up and they’re saying, ‘Everything’s fine!’ Getting older and having kids, you learn how to become less serious about it all.”
In fact, she’s currently expecting her second child — but the father’s identity remains a mystery. “I like to keep my personal life private,” she told More.
However, Headey — who plays the shrewd, calculating and beautiful Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones — said she relates to her character when it comes to motherhood. “Yes,” she said of relating to the Lannister family matriarch. “When it comes to my child.”
Even her costars confirmed that aspect of Headey. “A lesser actress would play a wicked woman,” Peter Dinklage, who plays her brother Tyrion Lannister, told the mag. “But Lena approaches it as a mother lion—maybe because she’s a mother herself. Cersei will do anything to protect her own.”
The HBO series’ showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss told the mag: “We were struck by the humor she brought to the role. We never imagined Cersei as particularly funny, but Lena makes us laugh in pretty much every scene.”
While her career continues to blossom, Headey says she’s realistic about her future. “Nothing is concrete,” she told More. “Right now I’m having a very great moment, but it’s a moment, and I always think, okay, worst-case scenario: Could I survive in my car? Would this be okay? My friends call it disaster thinking. I like to think of it as realism.”
The April 2015 issue of More is on newsstands now.
