Former 'Game of Thrones' and 'Skins' star Hannah Murray has revealed she stopped attending therapy sessions after a traumatic experience with a wellness cult that led to her being sectioned. The 36-year-old actress, who played Gilly in the fantasy epic and Cassie in the teen drama, details her journey in her new memoir 'The Make-Believe'.
Murray was drawn into a mysterious spiritual community at age 27, which she now describes as a 'wellness cult'. The group's leader wore a symbolic necklace and carried a giant Starbucks cup, promising wisdom and specialness while costing her thousands of pounds. The experience triggered a catastrophic psychotic episode, resulting in her being sectioned in an acute mental health unit. A psychiatrist later diagnosed her with bipolar disorder.
In the nine years since, Murray has processed the ordeal through writing. She describes the cult as 'the underbelly of the wellness and spiritual world', and says she now feels relief at no longer acting. 'Thank God I don't act any more,' she says, citing the pressures of the industry including constant focus on her weight, contractual negotiations over body parts, and the relentless cycle of auditions.
Murray, who studied English at Cambridge, now lives in an East Anglian town and focuses on writing and cooking. She stays away from wellness culture and has quit therapy, finding solace in her new, quieter life away from the spotlight.
