Game of Thrones star Lena Headey talked about her struggle with postpartum depression while filming the hit HBO series.
Struggling while filming Season 1
Lena Headey’s character Cersei is a ruthless leader with strong will and determination, but the actress revealed that she had been struggling personally in the early days of filming Game of Thrones.
The 43-year-old admitted that she had been hurting inside, and at first, she didn’t understand what was happening.
The Game of Thrones star sat down for an interview with Net-A-Porter’s digital magazine, The EDIT , where she recalled battling postpartum depression while filming Season 1 of the hit series.
“I was postnatally depressed but I didn’t know it.”
In 2010, when Game of Thrones was first starting, Headey had just given birth to her first child, Wylie.
Lena described seeing a doctor and bursting into tears, not even knowing what postpartum depression really was.
“I saw a great guy and he sorted me out, but I did the first year [on Game of Thrones ] in that space, figuring out motherhood and going through a weird time personally. It was tricky.”
She went “a bit nuts”
This is not the first time the Game of Thrones actress had opened up about her struggles after having her first child. In 2014, she gave an interview to The Telegraph.
#GameofThrones @IAMLenaHeadey talks misspent youth, *that* GoT death & the Iron Throne w/ @Maisie_Williams #THEEDIT https://t.co/XargyecJys pic.twitter.com/nxMpRivbO8
— NET-A-PORTER (@NETAPORTER) July 6, 2017
She had also revealed that she had suffered from clinical depression since the age of 15, but she had managed it without medication until she had her son.
“I went a bit nuts and eventually went to a guy who mixes Western and Eastern philosophy in terms of medicine and he put me on a course of something that changed everything.”
Despite the fact the medication helped, she still said that she would “never want to be dependent [on medication].”
Since having her son in 2010, she also had a daughter, Teddy, who will turn two next week.
Lena Headey opens up about battling postpartum depression while filming Game of Thrones: https://t.co/QHNjpY1p0D pic.twitter.com/Oiijj3RoKl
— E! News (@enews) July 6, 2017
Other celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Chrissy Teigen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Drew Barrymore, Celine Dion, and Brooke Shields have come forward about their own struggles with postpartum depression.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 out of 9 women can be affected by postpartum depression, which is also known as postnatal depression.
One quality that Cersei Lannister has in common with the actress who plays her: Neither of them suffer fools https://t.co/usTCupNcaM
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 5, 2017
Lena Headey’s comments about her postpartum depression came just before the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 7 on July 16.
[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Staff / Getty Images]
