Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams has opened up about her family torment and a traumatic relationship with her father who her mother “escaped” from when she was only four months old.
The 25-year-old, cast when she was just 12 on the smash hit show, has candidly discussed just how hard her start to life was.
Maisie has had to overcome struggles with her identity, anxiety and battled through mental health issues ever since she was a child.
Speaking to the Diary of a CEO Podcast host Steven Bartlett, she said it all finally came out after she was taken to the staff room at school by a worried teacher.
The Brit, 25, told the business tycoon in their boundary-breaking conversation that she has begun meditation and therapy to get to the bottom of her struggles.
The actress, who plays impulsive and fearless Arya Stark in cult show Game of Thrones, said it all came to a head one morning at school.
"I had a traumatic relationship with my dad and ever since I can remember I have struggled sleeping," she said on the show. "When I was about eight I was really struggling.
"It had met its peak and when I was at school I was taken by a teacher to the staff room. She ask me what had happened.
"She asked me if I ate breakfast I said no, and asked if I did most mornings. I said no. They were asking the right questions.
"My mum came to school and picked me up. It was the first time that all of the doors were open and it was the first time things were on the table.
"I still wanted to fight and say these things aren't wrong, that you're just trying to take me away from my dad.
"I was indoctrinated in a way. I think that's why I'm obsessed with cults! My world flipped."
She told the Dragons Den star she thought the mistreatment lead to years of misery and she blamed herself for the heartbreaking situation.
She added: "I've known how that feels and it's hugely influenced, I get to access all of that confusion and pain in my job, and really feel it in every fibre of my being. It's all pretend but the emotion is real, it all just came to the surface.
"To be honest, I have been thinking about this a lot - it's not because of me that these bad things happened when I was a child.
"I thought it was. I through there was something inherently wrong with me, that it could be anyone experiencing the pain.
"It made me more interested in the guy. What could make you mistreat your own children? What happened to you as a kid? Did you pull the legs off bugs? Did you learn all this?
"That's how I feel about him now. He would make a fascinating documentary."
She went on: "I would look around at the other kids and look at the joy and would be like 'when does that come for me?'.
"I had the sense of impending doom as a child and didn't know how to make it go away.
"I felt when I saw a kid that all my problem would go away, but then all my problems didn't go away.
"I feel now there is some sort of closure to it, where the journey may help other people where as before it was just pain, pain pain and pain."
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