Featured Image Credit: Alamy/HBO
Topics: Kit Harington, Game of Thrones, Celebrity
Simon Fearn
Rose Leslie has opened up on how she and her husband Kit Harington got through his past struggles with alcohol addiction.
Leslie and Harington met on the set of Game of Thrones in 2011, starring as on-screen lovers Jon Snow and Ygritte. The pair started dating in 2012 and married in 2018.
Harington has previously opened up about his alcohol addiction in an interview with the Sunday Times.
Explaining that he suffered with addiction and depression after Game of Thrones wrapped in 2018, he said: “I went through some pretty horrible stuff.
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“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.”
Asked if he ever felt suicidal, he said: “Yes of course. I went through periods of real depression where I wanted to do all sorts of things.”
He revealed to the publication that he was treated at the £95,000 ($119,000) a month Privé-Swiss retreat in Connecticut for ‘substances… mainly alcohol’ and ‘behaviours’.
Now, his wife has opened up on how the couple got through this dark time in Harington’s life.
Leslie told Harpers Bazaar: “For Kit, being an addict, it’s very important for him to recognise himself as such.
“The AA community has provided such a loving space for him to feel heard, to make sure he’s not alone. But if it weren’t for rehab, he would be in a very different headspace right now.”
Asked how she herself has coped with her husband’s addiction, she said: “I’m doing well. This was in 2019, so we’re now several years into his sobriety.
“I’ve learnt a lot about addiction and it’s something Kit is forever going to be aware of, but it’s on him whether he chooses to drink again.
“No amount of nannying is going to be able to stop him from doing what he decides to do.
“I don’t choose to put that pressure on myself.
"The responsibility of his behaviour is on him. It’s not on me to guard him from it.”
Harington has recently finished a run in the title role of Shakespeare’s Henry V at the Donmar Theatre, London. Leslie is set to star in the lead role of Claire Abshire in HBO’s adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveller’s Wife, which is penned by Sherlock and Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat.
If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.