Snow joke: ‘Game of Thrones’ star Kit Harington reveals shock mental health diagnosis
Kit Harington shot to fame as Jon Snow in HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones.”
However, the 37-year-old’s time in the limelight caused him to struggle with mental health issues and alcoholism.
Harington entered rehab back in 2019 for alcoholism. Now, he has revealed he was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while there.
“I realized that my life was hinging on this. Luckily it was the right place at the right time. I managed to forge a new life from there,” the British actor divulged on a recent episode of the wellness podcast, Hidden 20%.
Harington admitted to host Ben Branson that he “entered rehab drunk, sobered up in there and went, ‘F— this, not you guys in a circle. No, thank you.’”
Harington explained that he was in a different rehab clinic before he went to an American facility. The second place was where he was made aware of his ADHD.
“And I left that pretty quick and said, ‘I’ll try to deal with this by myself,’ which didn’t work after about four years,” he sighed.
ADHD is a disorder that causes the person to have trouble staying focused and have impulsive behavior.
But now, the “Eternals” star said, he’s “sober and “present,” focused on being a dad to his son, 2 years and daughter, 6 months.
He shares his kids with “Game of Thrones” co-star and wife, Rose Leslie.
“My head wants to go to every other thing in the room at once,” he continued, adding that he is sometimes “restless” when he plays with his young children.
Harington noted how it is difficult for him at certain times to deal with his acting career as well as being a father.
“The practicality of getting down to my work at the moment [I am] finding quite tricky. I don’t multitask well,” he said.
The “Seventh Son” alum added: “If there’s more than one thing going on in my head I get overwhelmed. I get incredibly fretty, anxious.”
“My head’s all over the shop,” he said. “I can’t deal with it.”
As for his experience on “Game of Thrones,” playing character Jon Snow from 2011 until 2019 had its challenges.
Because of the instant fame, Harington “tried to project this image of utter sophistication and coolness about what I was doing but genuinely being sort of terrified about everything.”
Having millions of eyes on him that watched his every move caused him to go on a downward spiral by the end of his eight-season run.
“That is a dangerous rabbit hole to fall down because you find all of the bad stuff that people are saying as well as the nice stuff,” he said.
