Sophie Turner Opens Up About Her Mental Health, Saying She Used to Contemplate Suicide

She started suffering from depression when she was 17.

By Emma Baty
18 April, 2019
Sophie Turner Opens Up About Her Mental Health, Saying She Used to Contemplate Suicide
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    Sophie Turner just gave a long interview where she talked about her mental health struggles, and she said she contemplated suicide when she was younger.
  • She said social media is a huge part of why she struggled as a teenager.

    Sophie Turner has been vocal about her mental health issues in the past, but during a podcast interview with Dr. Phil today, she said she used to contemplate suicide.

    When she was 17, about four years after she started filming Game of Thrones, Sophie started struggling with depression.

    “It’s weird. I say I wasn’t very depressed when I was younger, but I used to think about suicide a lot when I was younger. I don’t know why though,” she said. “Maybe it’s just a weird fascination I used to have, but yeah, I used to think about it. I don’t think I ever would have gone through with it. I don’t know.”

    She believes that a lot of the mental health problems she had stemmed from constant hate and criticism on social media.

    “People used to say, ‘Damn, Sansa gained 10 lbs’ or ‘Damn, Sansa needs to lose 10 lbs or ‘Sansa got fat.’ It was just a lot of weight comments, or I would have spotty skin, because I was a teenager, and that’s normal, and I used to get a lot of comments about my skin and my weight and how I wasn’t a good actress,” she said.

    “I would just believe it. I would say, ‘Yeah, I am spotty. I am fat. I am a bad actress.’ I would just believe it. I would get [the costume department] to tighten my corset a lot. I just got very, very self-conscious.”

    During the show's off-season, she didn't have the motivation to go out. She didn't want to see her best friends. Even the idea of having to leave her house brought her to tears.

    “I just would cry and cry and cry over just getting changed and putting on clothes and be like, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t go outside. I have nothing that I want to do,” she said.

    Thankfully, she got help, and things got much better. Her parents started to notice the therapy bills about a year ago, which is when she finally told them what happened. Now, she said she feels better, and she loves herself more than she used to. Her soon-to-be-husband Joe Jonas is a big part of that, she said.

    "I [sometimes] don’t think I love myself at all, but I’m now with someone that makes me realize I do have some redeeming qualities, I suppose,” she said. “And when someone tells you they love you every day, it makes you really think about why that is and I think that makes you love yourself a bit more. So yeah, I love myself.”

    Credit: Cosmopolitan
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