‘I hated myself’: Maisie Williams bravely discusses mental health
Maisie Williams, AKA the legend that plays the single most badass woman on television, has opened up about her mental health in an interview with Fearne Cotton.
After emerging in the acting scene at an early age through her Game of Thrones role as Arya Stark, Williams has had to face a barrage of negative comments on social media since her fame originated.
Speaking to Cotton on her Happy Place podcast, the actress said that it became “impossible to turn a blind eye” to the ruthlessly mean comments.
“It gets to a point where you're almost craving something negative so you can sit in a hole of sadness,” she added. “It's really bizarre the way that it starts to consume you."
Her co-star, Sophie Turner, recently made an appearance on the Dr Phil show to discuss her own struggles with depression, citing social media as the cause. Hateful comments about her weight, acting abilities and skin were posted online, when she was just a teenager.
Maisie explained that she finds herself experiencing life-altering feelings of self-hatred, which must be incredibly difficult to overcome. “It's something I'm really trying to break free from at the moment," she said.
"I went through a huge period of my life where I'd tell myself every day that I hated myself. It got to a point where I'd be in a conversation with my friends and my mind would running and running, and I'd be thinking about all the stupid things I've said in my life and it would just race and race.
"We'd be talking and I'd be like 'I hate myself'.”
Williams began attempting to discover why exactly these emotions were haunting her, and turned to her past for answers;
"So many of these problems are really linked to things in your past,” she explained, “as soon as you start digging and start asking yourself bigger questions than: Why do I hate myself? It's more: Why do you make yourself feel this way?"
The star confirmed that, at the moment, mental health is something she is “really working on”.
“One thing I learnt is that everyone is a little bit sad and it was really eye-opening to me to understand that I think," she continued. "The more we talk and the more we help one another, I think that’s really important.”
Well, we applaud Arya for opening up to the public. While it's not her responsibility, she's a huge role model for young women and we ADORE her.
As well as her stunning boyfriend, Reuben Selby, even though he said Jon Snow should have killed the Night King. IT WAS ARYA'S DESTINY, OKAY?
Feature image; Instagram/@maisiewilliamsactress
