Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty
Rose Leslieis opening up about how husbandKit Haringtonhas handled addiction.
“For Kit, being an addict, it’s very important for him to recognise himself as such,“The Good Fightalum, 35, said in the cover story forHarper’s Bazaar UK’s June 2022 issue.
She added, “The AA community has provided such a loving space for him to feel heard, to make sure he’s not alone. But if it weren’t for rehab, he would be in a very different headspace right now.”
Leslie said she is “doing well,” noting that Harington, 35, suffered from addiction in 2019, “so we’re now several years into his sobriety.”
Added Leslie: “I’ve learnt a lot about addiction and it’s something Kit is forever going to be aware of, but it’s on him whether he chooses to drink again. No amount of nannying is going to be able to stop him from doing what he decides to do… I don’t choose to put that pressure on myself. The responsibility of his behaviour is on him. It’s not on me to guard him from it.”
According toHarper’s Bazaar UK, the two bought a second property in Suffolk, where they planned to go after Harington finished performances ofHenry Vat Donmar Warehousein London.
Harrington first opened up about his battle with addiction in August, tellingThe Sunday Timesthat he “went through some pretty horrible stuff” afterGame of Thronesended in 2019.
“Things that have happened to me sinceThronesended, and that were happening duringThrones, were of a pretty traumatic nature and they did include alcohol,” he said.
“You get to a place where you feel like you are a bad person, you feel like you are a shameful person. And you feel that there’s no way out, that’s just who you are. And getting sober is the process of going, ‘No, I can change,’ " Harington continued.
“One of my favourite things I learnt recently is that the expression ‘a leopard doesn’t change its spots’ is completely false: that a leopard actually does change its spots. I just think that’s the most beautiful thing. It really helped. That was something I kind of clung to; the idea that I could make this huge fundamental change in who I was and how I went about my life.”
He previouslychecked into the Privé-Swiss retreatin Connecticut back in May 2019, stating that he was treated for “mainly alcohol” during his stay. “Kit has decided to utilize this break in his schedule as an opportunity to spend some time at a wellness retreat to work on some personal issues,” Harington’s rep told PEOPLE at the time.
TheEternalsactor also discussed the toll it took on his marriage toGame of Thronescostar Leslie, with whom hetied the knot in June 2018 in Scotland. “You can imagine the stresses that it causes to those around you,” he explained.
“I will say about my addictions that I kept them very, very quiet and I was incredibly secretive and incredibly locked up with them,” Harington added. “So they came as quite a surprise to the people around me. Which is quite often the case, I guess.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
source: people.com
