We’re all familiar with the tragedy that comes from Game of Thrones, a show which doesn’t hesitate to kill off beloved characters on a weekly basis. But for star Lena Headey, who plays Cersei on the hit series, there was more than just the story line weighing her down.
In an interview with The EDIT, Headey shared her battle with postpartum depression and the struggle it was to maintain her on-set life.
“I was postnatally depressed but I didn’t know it,” she says in the interview. “I saw a doctor for the medical check, and I just burst into tears. She said I was postnatally depressed and I went, ‘Am I? Why is that?’ I saw a great guy and he sorted me out, but I did the first year [on Game of Thrones] in that space, figuring out motherhood and going through a weird time personally. It was tricky.”
When asked if any aspects of Cersei had gotten into her head, Headley firmly answers that this was not the case.
“God, no, we’re very different. What I want for my children is for them to be kind and conscious and happy and that’s it, really. I don’t want them to think, “You have to achieve that in order to have that,” because that’s not true anymore.”
In another interview with The Telegraph back in 2014, Headey shared that she has a history of depression, having struggled with it since she was 15 years old. She managed to live with it without medication until the birth of her son.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Postpartum depression is said to effect one out of nine women. Celebrities who have come forward with their own postpartum struggles include Gwyneth Paltrow, Chrissy Teigen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields and Céline Dion.
The new season of Game of Thrones will premiere on July 16 on HBO.
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