Sophie Turner’s Mental Health Journey, Eating Disorder Battle in Her Own Words

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Sophie Turner’s Mental Health Journey, Eating Disorder Battle in Her Own Words

Even Sansa Stark has struggles. Sophie Turner has been candid about her mental health journey, revealing that she battled an eating disorder during her time on Game of Thrones. “I have experienced mental illness firsthand, and I’ve seen what it can do to the people around [the sufferers] as well,” the actress told Marie Claire Australia in 2019. “[When I was a teenager] my metabolism suddenly decided to fall to the depths of the ocean and I started to get spotty and gain weight, and all of this was happening to me on camera.” Around the same time as her cover story, Turner revealed on the “Phil in the Blanks” podcast that social media users were quick to criticize her appearance. “People used to say, ‘Damn, Sansa gained 10 lbs’ or ‘Damn, Sansa needs to lose 10 lbs’ or ‘Sansa got fat.’ 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,” she explained to Dr. Phil McGraw. “I would just believe it. I would say, ‘Yeah, I am spotty. I am fat. I am a bad actress.’ I would just believe it. I would get [the costume department] to tighten my corset a lot. I just got very, very self-conscious.” The body image struggles affected Turner’s desire to socialize. “I had no motivation to do anything or go out. Even with my best friends, I wouldn’t want to see them, I wouldn’t want to go out and eat with them,” she continued. “I just would cry and cry and cry over just getting changed and putting on clothes and be like, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t go outside. I have nothing that I want to do.’” [sendtonews type="float" key="MS7BnTuVyR-2831433-14453"] More recently, Turner spoke about how therapy helped her. “For a long time, I was quite sick with an eating disorder and I had a companion. I don’t know if you know what a companion is? It’s a live-in therapist, who would ensure I wasn’t doing anything unhealthy with my eating habits,” she explained to Elle in May 2022. “One night, I was 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.' … 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.’ … That was the best thing anyone could have told me.” If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders (ANAD) website or call their hotline at (888)-375-7767 to get help. Scroll through for more candid quotes from Turner:

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Sophie Turner’s Mental Health Journey, Eating Disorder Battle in Her Own Words

Even Sansa Stark has struggles. Sophie Turner has been candid about her mental health journey, revealing that she battled an eating disorder during her time on Game of Thrones. “I have experienced mental illness firsthand, and I’ve seen what it can do to the people around [the sufferers] as well,” the actress told Marie Claire Australia in 2019. “[When I was a teenager] my metabolism suddenly decided to fall to the depths of the ocean and I started to get spotty and gain weight, and all of this was happening to me on camera.” Around the same time as her cover story, Turner revealed on the “Phil in the Blanks” podcast that social media users were quick to criticize her appearance. “People used to say, ‘Damn, Sansa gained 10 lbs’ or ‘Damn, Sansa needs to lose 10 lbs’ or ‘Sansa got fat.’ 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,” she explained to Dr. Phil McGraw. “I would just believe it. I would say, ‘Yeah, I am spotty. I am fat. I am a bad actress.’ I would just believe it. I would get [the costume department] to tighten my corset a lot. I just got very, very self-conscious.” The body image struggles affected Turner’s desire to socialize. “I had no motivation to do anything or go out. Even with my best friends, I wouldn’t want to see them, I wouldn’t want to go out and eat with them,” she continued. “I just would cry and cry and cry over just getting changed and putting on clothes and be like, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t go outside. I have nothing that I want to do.’” [sendtonews type="float" key="MS7BnTuVyR-2831433-14453"] More recently, Turner spoke about how therapy helped her. “For a long time, I was quite sick with an eating disorder and I had a companion. I don’t know if you know what a companion is? It’s a live-in therapist, who would ensure I wasn’t doing anything unhealthy with my eating habits,” she explained to Elle in May 2022. “One night, I was 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.' … 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.’ … That was the best thing anyone could have told me.” If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders (ANAD) website or call their hotline at (888)-375-7767 to get help. Scroll through for more candid quotes from Turner:

Credit: Jacques BENAROCH/SIPA/Shutterstock

Recognizing Depression

“It’s weird. I say I wasn’t very depressed when I was younger, but I used to think about suicide a lot when I was younger. I don’t know why though,” Turner told McGraw in 2019. “Maybe it’s just a weird fascination I used to have, but yeah, I used to think about it. I don’t think I ever would have gone through with it. I don’t know.”

With the help of treatment, the X-Men star said she felt “much better,” noting, “I’ve been going therapy at CAST Centers, actually. I’m on medication and I love myself now, or more than I used to, I think.”

Credit: Gregory Pace/Shutterstock

The Joe Breakup

Before Turner married Joe Jonas in 2019, the pair split as the actress struggled.

“I was going through this phase of being very mentally unwell. He was, like, ‘I can’t be with you until you love yourself, I can’t see you love me more than you love yourself,’” Turner told The Sunday Times. “That was something, him doing that. I think he kind of saved my life, in a way.”

The twosome were only apart for 24 hours, which Turner called “the worst day of our lives.”

“For a second, we both had cold feet, then 24 hours later we were both, like, Never mind," she explained.

Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock

Eating Disorder Battle

“Suddenly, everyone's metabolism slows down at 17, 18 and then that's documented. My skin and everything and people commenting on it. I was too aware of my body at a young age,” Turner, who started on Game of Thrones when she was 15, told The Sunday Times. “And it just kind of took over my mind, it was all I would think about. Calorie counting, everything. ‘Oh, I'll just eat nuts today.’”

After she didn’t get her period for one year, Turner started therapy.

Credit: Casey Flanigan/imageSPACE/Shutterstock

Therapy Fan

"Everyone needs a therapist, especially when people are constantly telling you [that] you're not good enough and you don't look good enough. I think it's necessary to have someone to talk to, and to help you through that,” she told The Sunday Times in 2019.

Credit: Annie Lesser/imageSPACE/Shutterstock

Social Media Struggles

Turner was candid in her June 2022 Elle cover story about her former live-in therapist for her eating disorder and how social media affects her.

“I have noticed that social media makes me incredibly anxious and it’s something I try to distance myself from,” she said. “Having it off my phone has been so helpful. Now, if I do have to go on it, it’s for a few minutes once or twice a week, rather than hours every day. It’s made such a difference. Live real life – it’s much more fun.”

Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock

Making It Manageable

“I still have to do it every week,” she told Elle of therapy in 2022. “Occasionally, I go on a retreat to check myself, and I still have days when I feel depressed or anxious. It’s manageable now – I have the tools. 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."