Bella Ramsey has revealed they were prompted to get a formal autism diagnosis after a crew member spotted signs while on set.
The 21-year-old British actor and star of the HBO drama, The Last of Us, has lifted the lid on their 'liberating' autism diagnosis in a tell-all interview with British Vogue.
Ramsey, who identifies as non-binary, who shot to fame playing Lyanna Mormont in HBO fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, followed by playing Ellie in the zombie apocalyptic series, said they had historically shied away from speaking about their neurodivergence.
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Ramsey told the magazine: "I’ve spoken a bit about neurodivergence before, but I always for some reason didn’t want to.
"I felt like I didn't want to say what it was... shoot.
"I got diagnosed with autism when I was filming season one of The Last of Us."
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The celeb said they were on the set of the hit show in Canada when another crew member with an autistic daughter made the assumption that Ramsey was also autistic.
The conversation inspired Ramsey to seek a formal psychiatric assessment which led to the autism diagnosis.
Ramsey said they had 'always wondered' about it, having felt a 'weirdo' and 'loner' in school while sensitive to certain sensory issues.
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Now, however, they say the diagnosis has helped them with their acting.
"I’ve always been watching and learning from people," they said. "Having to learn more manually how to socialise and interact with the people around me has helped me with acting."
"I have a call time, and I’m told what to wear, how to stand, where to stand and what to eat," Ramsey added about the routine of filming on sets.
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"[It's] freeing... It enables me to walk through the world with more grace towards myself about not being able to do the easy everyday tasks that everyone else seems to be able to do."
Ramsey continued that they're able to 'unmask immediately' after telling people about their autism condition.
"My experience of moving through the world is as an autistic person," they said. "There’s no reason for people not to know."
Ramsey has spent almost half their life in the spotlight, rocketing to Hollywood fame at the age of 11 in Game of Thrones, after attending a Nottingham-based acting group, Television Workshop.
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At the age of 12, they developed anorexia while playing Mildred in the CBBC's The Worst Witch adaptation.
Ramsey said they struggled 'for a couple of years', adding: "I had this real need to, I think, show people in a physical way that I was struggling, because I found it so hard to vocalise."
Meanwhile, Vogue reports almost 40 million people tuned in to watch The Last of Us in 2023, based on the video game of the same name, and has since shot to HBO's most-viewed show in Europe ever.
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Ramsey is due to hit our screens again as Ellie with the return of the second series next month alongside co-lead, Pedro Pascal, who called Ramsey 'a soul partner at work and in life'.
Topics: Bella Ramsey, Celebrity, Film and TV, Game of Thrones, Mental Health, The Last of Us
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