Kit Harington Just Reflected On How “Lucky” He Is To Have Gotten Sober Before Having Kids As He Admitted That He Once Thought It Was “Impossible” For Him To Stop Drinking Alcohol

“I would literally despise myself and not be proud of anything I'd done. I couldn't be proud.”

By
Stephanie Soteriou
by Stephanie Soteriou

BuzzFeed Staff

This article mentions alcohol addiction and suicidal ideation.

When the final season of Game of Thrones was airing back in 2019, one of its stars, Kit Harington, checked into a wellness retreat in Connecticut “to work on some personal issues.”

Kit Harington stands in front of an Emmy Awards backdrop, wearing a black tuxedo jacket over a white dress shirt
John Shearer / Getty Images

Kit later revealed that he was battling alcohol addiction and suicidal ideation at the time, with the British actor struggling to cope with his astronomical rise to fame after landing the role of Jon Snow in the popular HBO series in 2011. 


Speaking to the Times in 2021, Kit explained: "Things that have happened to me since Thrones ended, and that were happening during Thrones, were of a pretty traumatic nature, and they did include 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 added. “I went through periods of real depression where I wanted to do all sorts of things."

Thankfully, his time in rehab helped, and Kit is now sober, happily married, and a proud father of two.

Rose Leslie and Kit Harington pose against a backdrop with HBO max logos at a public event. Rose wears a black suit, and Kit dons a grey blazer over a white shirt
Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images

He married his Thrones costar Rose Leslie in 2018, and the two share a 3-year-old son, and a 14-month-old daughter.


And in a new interview with GQ, Kit said that he considers himself “so lucky” to have overcome his alcohol addiction before becoming a father as he opened up about the debilitating self-loathing that he battled with at his lowest point.

In the profile, it is reported that Kit was “still drunk” when he checked into the rehabilitation center, and that prior to seeking treatment, he genuinely thought that it was “physically and emotionally impossible” for him to stop drinking alcohol.

Kit Harington at an event, wearing a dark suit and looking into the distance with a serious expression
John Nacion / Variety via Getty Images

Reflecting on how “proud” he now is to be sober, Kit explained: “Before getting sober, I would stare in the mirror and call myself a cunt. I’d hate myself. I would literally despise myself and not be proud of anything I'd done. I couldn't be proud.”

Kit Harington wearing casual clothes holds a coffee cup and Sainsbury's shopping bag while walking outside a store
Ray Crowder / GC Images

“So the fact that I am proud of getting sober is in and of itself a mark of being an entirely different person,” he continued. “And now, every set I step onto, whatever work I do, I'm proud of, because I know I put everything into it.”


“Before, I had this huge monkey on my back that was just, like, weighing me down,” Kit added. “So yeah, the whole nature of being proud of myself is a relatively new prospect for me.”

“I was so lucky I got sober before having kids,” Kit admitted elsewhere in the interview, also sharing: “I think, at heart — and I say this with love for myself — I'm quite self-centered. I think I'm a generous person and a loving person [too]. But with kids, you just don't get to be self-centered. They strip you of it. And that’s an amazing gift.”

Kit Harington on the red carpet wearing a pinstripe suit with a neutral backdrop displaying an Apple TV+ logo
Phillip Faraone / Getty Images,

Kit went on to acknowledge that there will always be the possibility of him having a “massive, messy, chaotic relapse” into alcohol addiction, but said that he tries to “protect” himself by being open about his struggles.


The star explained that he also likes to use his platform to speak out as it could end up helping others “who had the same problem, and who are living a really, really genuinely happy, content life, and can't imagine going back to what I [would be] going back to.” 

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org. The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386. 

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