'I Used to Look in the Mirror and Hate Myself': Game of Thrones Star Kit Harington Opens Up About His Struggle with Alcohol Addiction

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has spoken out about his battle with alcohol addiction in an interview with GQ. He says he's glad he managed to overcome it before becoming a father: the 37-year-old actor has two children with his Game of Thrones co-star Rose Leslie.

"I'm so lucky that I stopped drinking before I had children," Harington said, adding that at one point he felt "physically and emotionally impossible" to not drink again.

In 2019, he was even forced to go to treatment: this happened before the finale of "Game of Thrones", when the actor faced depression. The reason for this was that fans of the series did not perceive the actor as a separate person. "People treated me the way they treated him. But in life, I am not like that at all, it caused me psychological wounds."

Keith said both fatherhood and sobriety were the best things that ever happened to him. "It really changes everything. I think deep down I'm quite self-centered. But with kids, you just can't be self-centered. They take that away from you. And that's an amazing gift."

Now the actor can finally be proud of himself. "Before I got over my addiction, I would stare in the mirror and call myself a jerk. I hated myself. I literally despised myself and couldn't be proud of anything I'd done. I couldn't be proud of myself. So the fact that I'm proud of being sober now is a sign in itself that I'm a completely different person."

Kit Harington was previously diagnosed with ADHD. According to him, the symptoms of the disease are expressed in the fact that his mind constantly demands to do something new, which adds difficulties in work: "I have a hard time concentrating on work, I have trouble multitasking. When I have a lot going on in my head at once, I get overwhelmed and become incredibly irritable, anxious. I can't collect my thoughts, and it's very difficult."