Maisie Williams has admitted she "resented" playing the role of Arya Stark in "Game of Thrones."
The actress was 12 years old when she joined the HBO show and, in an interview with British GQ, said she felt restrained in that she could not express herself while growing up in front of millions across the globe.
"I think that when I started becoming a woman. I resented Arya because I couldn't express who I was becoming, and then I also resented my body, because it wasn't aligned with the piece of me that the world celebrated," she said.
When asked about what she missed most about the show, Williams said nothing — not because she had any negative feelings toward "Game of Thrones," but because she felt it was not "healthy" to miss it because she "loved it."
"I look at it so fondly, and I look at it with such pride. But why would I want to make myself feel sad about the greatest thing that ever happened to me? I don't want to associate that with feelings of pain," she explained.
Williams also confirmed she had not decided if she will reprise her role as Arya Stark again.
"I'm not saying it would never happen, but I'm also not saying it in this interview so that everyone goes … 'the spin-off! It's coming.' Because it's not," she said.
"It has to be the right time and the right people," Williams added. "It has to be right in the context of all the other spin-offs and the universe of 'Game of Thrones.' It has to be the right time for me."
In a 2020 interview with the Independent, Williams spoke about what it was like to navigate fame as a child on the cusp of her teenage years. Growing up in the limelight, it was almost expected of her to develop a drug habit, but Williams said she was always aware of the possible pitfalls.
"Even when I was 12, people were like: 'Ooh, are you gonna get a drug habit and ruin your life?' That is the problem, I guess: the fact that you're doing interviews when you're 12 and no one's ever addressing why that's a really difficult and dangerous thing for you to do. Everybody wants you to have an opinion on something when you don't know who you are yet," she said.
"So I was really quick to understand that these people aren't my friends. People just want to go where the money and drama is. And I wanted to really protect myself."
Williams said she had to "grow up really fast" while also recognizing that "can also mess you up."
"It's a minefield [and] it's a challenge every single day," she said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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