Game of Thrones and Dark Phoenix actress Sophie Turner has credited her new hubby Joe Jonas with helping her to break free of her mental health struggles.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, the 23-year-old actress said she was “going through this phase of being very mentally unwell” when she met 29-year-old Joe Jonas.
Jonas is known for being one-third of the Jonas Brothers and lead singer of the band DNCE. Turner, who plays Sansa Stark on the HBO series, spoke out about how hard it was to grow up in front of the world.
“Having your adolescence being displayed in public, that’s something I really wish hadn’t happened,” Turner said.
"Being in the age of social media when that’s happening, I think I would be a much saner person if I hadn’t been documented from 13- your most awkward, uncomfortable, unsure-of-yourself years.”
Over the entire decade of filming, Turner claims her body changed and she was subjected to cruel online remarks. She started "calorie counting" and missing periods, and eventually went to therapy.
“Suddenly, everyone’s metabolism slows down at 17, 18 and then that’s documented,” she told the outlet. “My skin and everything. People commenting on it. I was too aware of my body at a young age. 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.”
The Dark Phoenix star continued to reference the dangers she was inflicting on her body, “I stopped having my period for a year- that’s when I decided to have therapy.”
When Turner was “going through this phase of being very mentally unwell,” she net Jonas at the age of 20, and he changed her life forever by encouraging her to love herself as much as she loved him.
“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.’ That was something, him doing that,” she continued. “I think he kind of saved my life, in a way.”
The couple also broke up for 24 hours, which the actress recalled as "the worst day of our lives" to the Times. “For a second we both had cold feet, then 24 hours later we were both, like, ‘Never mind.’"
The GOT actress opened up about her struggles with mental health on Dr Phil McGraw's show, speaking out about her history of depression, and also got candid in a Marie Claire Australia interview last June.
“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,” Turner said.
“Everyone needs a therapist, especially when people are constantly telling you 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.”
Turner wed Jonas in a Las Vegas ceremony earlier in May after the Billboard Music Awards. Previously, she spoke about the comments she received about her weight while playing Sansa Stark as a teenager.
“You see 10 great comments and you ignore them, but one negative comment and it just like, throws you off. It was just a lot of weight comments. Or I would have spotty skin because I was a teenager and that’s normal, but I used to get a lot of comments about my skin and my weight and how I wasn’t a good actress.”
Jonas helped her realise that being in a relationship with someone functions better when you can love yourself as much as them.
“I feel much better. I’ve been doing therapy at CAST centres, actually. I’m on medication,” she said. “I love myself now, or more than I used to, I think. I don’t think I loved myself at all. But I’m now with someone that makes me realise that I do have some redeeming qualities, I suppose."
"When someone tells you they love you every day, it makes you really think about why that is and I think it makes you love yourself a bit more. So yeah, I love myself.” YES GURL.
Feature image: Instagram/@jophieupdates
