Kit Harington Says He Went Sober After 'Traumatic' Experiences That Involved Alcohol

Kit Harington has shed more light on his years-long battle with alcohol and depression.

In a recent interview with The Times, the 34-year-old actor opened up about his mental health struggles during and after his days on Game of Thrones. He revealed he had experienced some “pretty traumatic” events during that timeframe, and many of those incidents involved alcohol.

“You get to a place where you feel like you are a bad person, you feel like you are a shameful person. And you feel that there’s no way out, that’s just who you are,” he explained. “And getting sober is the process of going, ‘No, I can change.’ One of my favorite things I learnt recently is that the expression ‘a leopard doesn’t change its spots’ is completely false: that a leopard actually does change its spots.”

He continued: “I just think that’s the most beautiful thing. It really helped. That was something I kind of clung to; the idea that I could make this huge fundamental change in who I was and how I went about my life.”

Harington also spoke on his mental health struggles, and how his depression became so severe he had contemplated suicide.

“I went through periods of real depression where I wanted to do all sorts of things,” he said. “Maybe [speaking about this will] help someone, somewhere. But I definitely don’t want to be seen as a martyr or special. I’ve been through something, it’s my stuff. If it helps someone, that’s good.”

The actor, who will appear in Modern Love Season 2, confirmed he has been sober for more than two years and is in a much better place. He’s also come to terms with the fact he’ll always be associated with Jon Snow, the GoT character he portrayed throughout the series.

“[Life is] wonderful,” he said. “I have a child and my relationship is brilliant. I’m a very, very happy, content, sober man.”

You can read the full interview here.