Kit Harington opens up about how ‘Game of Thrones’ affected his mental health

After leaving behind Jon Snow's cloak, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington chose to take a break from acting.

In an interview on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show, the actor reveals that the show took a toll on his mental health, leading him to check into rehab in May 2019 as the Thrones finale was airing.

Harington starred as Jon Snow on the hit HBO series for eight years. Its final episode is one of the most polarizing TV show endings in recent history.

“I went through some mental health difficulties after Thrones, and during the end of Thrones, to be honest,” Harington shared. “I think it was directly due to the nature of the show and what I had been doing for years."

“I think I took a sort of break after Thrones where I said, ‘I don’t want to work for a year. I want to really kind of concentrate on myself. I’m really happy I did that," he continued.

In May 2019, it was widely reported that he entered a wellness rehabilitation center "to work on some personal issues."

This wasn't the first time the show impacted his mental health. His character's death in the season 5 finale caused him to seek therapy. In an interview with Variety in 2019, he described the period between Jon's death and resurrection in the second episode of season 6 as the "darkest period" of his time on the show.

Harington is now ready to get back into acting, but the global pandemic put his plans on hold.

“Coming back to work and deciding what to take and what to choose, you know, you couldn’t predict the pandemic, so just when I was wanting to come back to work, the pandemic hit, so I was like, ‘Ugh, for God’s sake,'” the 34-year-old actor said.

Recently, the Emmy Award-winning actor filmed an episode for the second season of Modern Love and he will also appear in Marvel's upcoming Eternals, premiering this November.

During the pandemic, Harington also welcomed a baby with wife and Game of Thrones co-star Rose Leslie.