Sophie Turner fears for child stars due to social media pressures
Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner is worried about child stars being exposed to the toxic side of social media.
Sophie Turner fears for young stars due to the toxicity of social media.
The 29-year-old actress was just 13 when she was cast in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones and admits that she is concerned about performers who are thrust into the spotlight at an early age because of the cruel nature of the online sites.
Sophie told Flaunt magazine: "I look at the kids who are about to be in the new Harry Potter and I just want to give them a hug and say, 'Look, it's going to be okay but don't go anywhere near (social media).'
"Stay friends with your home friends, keep living at home with your family, make sure your parents are your chaperones - it's so important to have that grounding adjacent to the big, crazy stuff that you do."
Sophie recalled how her confidence dropped as social media became increasingly prominent after Game of Thrones started airing in 2011.
She said: "I think social media was just really becoming a big thing after I started on Game of Thrones, so I got a couple of years of peace and quiet and then I had to adjust. It had such a profound impact on my mental health, like more than I could tell you.
"It almost destroyed me on numerous occasions."
Sophie even stated that she will refuse to allow her own children - daughters Willa, five, and Delphine, three, from her marriage to former husband Joe Jonas - to act until they have grown up.
The Trust star said: "Oh God, they're not acting! Not until they're at least 25!"
Turner appears alongside Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harington in her upcoming movie The Dreadful and is determined to work on projects that generate discussion.
She explained: "I do like to make things that people can walk away from and they feel able to change something about themselves or feel inspired to do something.
"I want to do more unusual stories - I want to do more A24-type projects where they're super unique and very niche."
Sophie and Kit play lovers in The Dreadful and the former admits that it was a strange dynamic alongside a person she describes as "like a brother in real life".
She said: "We suddenly went, 'Oh s***! Why have we committed to playing a couple?' It was really weird."
However, the pair got on with it and had a "great time" together.
Sophie said: "As ever, he's the biggest, most uplifting big brother I could ask for, bar my own two real-life brothers."
