In May of 2019, mere weeks after the final episode of Game of Thrones aired on HBO, star Kit Harington (Jon Snow) checked into a rehabilitation center to deal with an alcohol problem. He's well now, enjoying life with wife Rose Leslie and his two young children. But at the time, he was going through a difficult period, which he opened up about on an episode of the wellness podcast The Hidden 20%.
Speaking about that first stay, Harington said that he "entered rehab drunk, sobered up in there, and went, ‘F— this, not you guys in a circle. No, thank you.’”
"And I left that pretty quick and said, ‘I’ll try to deal with this by myself,’ which didn’t work after about four years."
Eventually, Harington went to a second rehab facility, where he was diagnosed with ADHD. “I realized that my life was hinging on this,” he said, according to Deadline. “Luckily, it was the right place at the right time. I managed to forge a new life from there.” He says that he sometimes feels "restless" when playing with his kids. “My head wants to go to every other thing in the room at once." But as long as he's learned ways to cope, things should be manageable. He says he's "sober" and "present" now, and focused on his children.
Kit Harington felt uncomfortable with "demeaning" comments about his Game of Thrones celebrity
Thinking back on what led to his initial stay in rehab, Harington traced it back to his Game of Thrones fame. "People would treat me like the character," he said. "But in my life I didn't feel like that at all. And that some psychological scarring." He mentioned being bothered by “demeaning” comments like being called “Game of Thrones hunk Kit Harington.”
"[I] tried to project this image of utter sophistication and coolness about what I was doing, but genuinely being sort of terrified about everything...That is a dangerous rabbit hole to fall down, because you find all of the bad stuff that people are saying as well as the nice stuff."
These days, Harington seems to have come to peace with being associated with the character of Jon Snow; after all, he came forward to HBO with an idea for a Game of Thrones sequel series all about his character, although last we checked the series wasn't in active development. HBO could make it someday, but right now they're focusing on Game of Thrones spinoff shows like House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
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