Kit Harington secretly checked himself into rehab to work on some ‘personal issues’ while Game of Thrones reached its conclusion.
The 32-year-old has been hit so hard by the end of his career-defining franchise that he turned to alcohol and is now being treated for stress, PageSix reports.
A representative for Kit confirmed in a statement saying:
‘Kit has decided to utilise this break in his schedule as an opportunity to spend some time at a wellness retreat to work on some personal issues.’
The original report suggests that the British actor is seeking solace at $120,000 (£94,000) a month luxury wellness retreat Privé-Swiss in Connecticut, where he has access to psychological coaching, cognitive behavioural therapy and meditation. With the full support of his wife Rose Leslie, Kit allegedly checked in nearly a month ago – weeks before the final GoT episode aired in the UK and US.
A source told the publication:
‘The end of GoT really hit Kit hard… He realised “this is it — this is the end”, it was something they had all worked so hard on for so many years. He had a moment of, what next?’
The insider continued:
‘Everyone close to him really wanted him to get some rest. Right now, he just needs peace and quiet.’
Kit was visibly moved to tears at the last table read for his final scenes in Season 8, behind the scenes documentary The Last Watch revealed this week. He has played central character Jon Snow for the last nine years, with a sharp rise to prominence at the age of 23 when the HBO show first gained traction in 2011. And the fans among us will know that Jon’s final scenes with love interest Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) were particularly heart-wrenching.
The actor previously said that he ‘broke down’ straight after episode six was filmed and explained how taking off his familiar costume felt like he was being ‘skinned’.
‘My final day of shooting, I felt fine… I felt fine… I felt fine… then I went to do my last shots and started hyperventilating a bit,’ he told Esquire.
‘Then they called “Wrap!” and I just f***ing broke down. It was this onslaught of relief and grief about not being able to do this again. ‘It wasn’t so much about Jon. It was about not being in this world, not getting to smell those smells, fight those fights, be with these people – the whole package.’
Kit said that since 2011, the cast and crew had become his ‘family’ and the show had dominated his ‘life’ – so much so that he married Game of Thrones co-star Rose, who played Ygritte, last June.
But the journey has brought some lows, as well as extreme highs. The actor once candidly admitted that he started therapy in his early 20s after struggling to deal with Jon Snow’s resurrection storyline dominating the Season 5 and Season 6 bridge of Game of Thrones.
‘It wasn’t a very good time in my life. I felt I had to feel that I was the most fortunate person in the world when actually, I felt very vulnerable.’
He called it a ‘shaky time’ saying that his ‘darkest period’ was when the focus of the show was Jon.
‘When you become the cliffhanger of a TV show, and a TV show probably at the height of its power, the focus on you is f**king terrifying.
That was a time when I started therapy and started talking to people. I had felt very unsafe, and I wasn’t talking to anyone.’
Aside from Game of Thrones, Kit has not yet taken on a wealth of acting projects. But last month, he had already begun to plot his departure from dark drama, saying he would like to try something more light-hearted.
‘Comedy? Yeah, I’d love to,’ he said. ‘I love it. I love doing really stupid s**t, so that’s what I want to do.’
