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Kit Harington relates mental health issues 'directly' to 'the nature' of 'Game of Thrones'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 8/3/21

Game of Thrones ended its universally acclaimed eight-season HBO run on May 19, 2019—Jon Snow's fate finally culminated—and Kit Harington is much better for it two-plus years later.

"I went through some mental health difficulties after Thrones and during the end of Thrones, to be honest," the 34-year-old British actor told SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show recently. "I think it was directly to do with the nature of the show and what I'd been doing for years. I think I took a break after Thrones: 'I don't want to work for a year, [and] I want to really concentrate on myself.' And I think I'm really happy I did that."

It was reported by Page Six nine days after the Game of Thrones series finale that Harington had been "undergoing psychological coaching, practicing mindful meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy to combat stress and deal with negative emotions" related to stress and alcohol use at a luxury rehabilitation retreat in Connecticut.

Two months before that, Harington had admitted to Variety that the death and resurrection of Jon Snow led his mind to grow darker and darker: "It wasn’t a very good time in my life. I felt I had to feel that I was the most fortunate person in the world, when actually, I felt very vulnerable. I had a shaky time in my life around there—like I think a lot of people do in their 20s. That was a time when I started therapy, and started talking to people. I had felt very unsafe, and I wasn't talking to anyone."

Eventually, as Harington explained to Cagle, he arrived in a place where he felt comfortable and ready to return to acting post-Thrones when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He will star in an episode of Modern Love's second season, which premieres Aug. 13 on Amazon Prime Video.

"Doing this Modern Love episode was a bit like, you don't have to live in that intense place all the time," he said. "Why don't you do something that takes the weight off? Why don't you do something fun?"

Harington's personal life has blossomed, too. He welcomed his first child, a son, with his wife, actress Rose Leslie, earlier this year. The couple first met on the set of Thrones and married at a Scotland castle in June 2018.

Below, watch Harington discuss parenthood with Leslie and his "refreshing" episode of Modern Love as well as the anthology series' Season 2 trailer.