Raising The Game

Following a turbulent decade of overcoming mental illness, Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner’s star turn in the latest X-Men instalment signals a newly empowered chapter.

- Tiffany Bakker

Throughout Game of Thrones’ eight brutal and bloody seasons, Sophie Turner’s Sansa Stark has endured more than pretty much anyone else still left standing. Her psychopathic husband ordered her father’s execution, her mother and brother were slaughtered at a wedding, she married two of the worst men ever depicted on screen and somehow managed to survive a completely demented mother-in-law.

“Sansa has been through a bit,” laughs the actress when we meet at a lavish downtown New York hotel where the candles smell expensive and no-one seems to talk above a whisper. Turner is quick to put those around her at ease, however – she’s snappy, engaging company and there’s an immediate levity to her that isn’t readily apparent in her on-screen work and public persona. Dressed in a black hoodie and denim jeans, her hair returned to its natural blonde tone, she could be any other young woman traipsing the Manhattan streets outside, but the Louis Vuitton mink slippers – Turner is the current face of the label and muse to designer Nicolas Ghesquière – are a subtle reminder that she’s a fixed member of the A-list.

Yet as we chat, it quickly becomes apparent that Turner’s rise to fame has been far more challenging than just glossy high-fashion and champagne-soaked parties. Behind the scenes of her decade-long run on the medieval fantasy phenomenon, the 23-year-old British star was fighting a battle that she felt at times was almost as dark as Sansa Stark’s reality.

Turner’s role as Sansa Stark on hit fantasy drama series Game of Thrones brought her global recognition and, in turn, anxiety.