Kit Harington has recently revealed his addiction struggles, which he suffered after Game of Thrones ended in 2019.
The 34-year-old actor told The Sunday Times that he “went through some pretty horrible stuff” after GOT ended in 2019, adding, “Things that have happened to me since Thrones ended, and that were happening during Thrones, were of a pretty traumatic nature and they did include alcohol.”
“You get to a place where you feel like you are a bad person, you feel like you are a shameful person,” he added. “And you feel that there’s no way out, that’s just who you are. And getting sober is the process of going, ‘No, I can change.’”
“One of my favorite things I learnt recently is that the expression ‘a leopard doesn’t change its spots’ is completely false: that a leopard actually does change its spots,” Harington continued. “I just think that’s the most beautiful thing. It really helped. That was something I kind of clung to; the idea that I could make this huge fundamental change in who I was and how I went about my life.”
In May 2019, the Pompeii star checked into the Privé-Swiss retreat in Connecticut, noting that he had to undergo treatment for “mainly alcohol” during his stay.
At the time, his rep told PEOPLE, “Kit has decided to utilize this break in his schedule as an opportunity to spend some time at a wellness retreat to work on some personal issues.”
Harington told The Sunday Times that he also experienced suicidal thoughts.
He said, “Yes of course. I went through periods of real depression where I wanted to do all sorts of things,” adding that he hoped to be open about it would “maybe help someone, somewhere. But I definitely don’t want to be seen as a martyr or special. I’ve been through something, it’s my stuff. If it helps someone, that’s good.”
“I will say about my addictions that I kept them very, very quiet and I was incredibly secretive and incredibly locked up with them,” Harington continued. “So they came as quite a surprise to the people around me. Which is quite often the case, I guess.”
Harington is married to Game of Thrones costar Rose Leslie, 34, with whom he tied the knot in June 2018 in Scotland. They revealed their pregnancy in September. In February, the couple’s rep confirmed to PEOPLE that they welcomed a baby boy and are “very, very happy.”
Harington is set to appear in an episode of the new season of Modern Love, which will drop on Amazon Prime on August 13. The story was published on PEOPLE.
