Game of Thrones star Kit Harington reveals mental health diagnosis

Kit Harington shot to fame in the hit series Game of Thrones, but his time in the limelight caused him to struggle.

Kit Harington played Jon Snow in the hit fantasy series. Picture: Helen Sloan/HBO

Kit Harington shot to fame as Jon Snow in HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones.

However, the 37-year-old’s time in the limelight caused him to struggle with mental health issues and alcoholism.

Harington entered rehab back in 2019 for alcoholism. Now, he has revealed he was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while there, reports New York Post.

“I realised that my life was hinging on this. Luckily it was the right place at the right time. I managed to forge a new life from there,” the British actor divulged on a recent episode of the wellness podcast, Hidden 20%.

Harington admitted to host Ben Branson that he “entered rehab drunk, sobered up in there and went, ‘F**k this, not you guys in a circle. No, thank you.’”

Kit Harington reveals he was diagnosed with ADHD while in rehab back in 2019. Picture: Jesse Grant/Getty Images

The GOT star – the series still airs locally on BINGE – explained that he was in a different rehab clinic before he went to an American facility. The second place was where he was made aware of his ADHD.

“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,” he sighed.

ADHD is a disorder that causes the person to have trouble staying focused and have impulsive behaviour.

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Harington played Jon Snow in the hit fantasy series. Picture: Helen Sloan/HBO

But now, the Eternals star said, he’s “sober and “present”, focused on being a dad to his son, 2 years, and daughter, 6 months.

He shares his kids with GOT co-star and wife, Rose Leslie.

“My head wants to go to every other thing in the room at once,” he continued, adding that he is sometimes “restless” when he plays with his young children.

Harington noted how it is difficult for him at certain times to deal with his acting career as well as being a father.

“The practicality of getting down to my work at the moment [I am] finding quite tricky. I don’t multi-task well,” he said.

The Seventh Son star added: “If there’s more than one thing going on in my head I get overwhelmed. I get incredibly fretty, anxious.”

“My head’s all over the shop,” he said. “I can’t deal with it.”

Harington is married to Game of Thrones co-star Rose Leslie. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

As for his experience on GOT, playing character Jon Snow from 2011 until 2019 had its challenges.

Because of the instant fame, Harington “tried to project this image of utter sophistication and coolness about what I was doing but genuinely being sort of terrified about everything.”

Having millions of eyes on him that watched his every move caused him to go on a downward spiral by the end of his eight-season run.

“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,” he said.

This article originally appeared in New York Post and was reproduced with permission