Off the set, Sophie Turner has faced her own battles. Although she hasn’t suffered at the hands of a tyrannical king, the actress has endured her share of personal struggles. Turner was just 15 when “Game of Thrones” debuted on HBO in 2011, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. The spotlight brought with it a barrage of online criticism, particularly targeting her appearance, which led to mental health challenges including anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder. More recently, her high-profile divorce from Joe Jonas made headlines, with unfounded rumors questioning her capabilities as a mother.

Beyond public scrutiny, Turner has dealt with other personal hardships, such as the tragic loss of her cherished dog, Waldo, and the emotional toll of filming particularly distressing scenes as Sansa. The actress’s past is marked by adversity, which is important to acknowledge when considering her narrative.

Achieving stardom at 15 has its advantages. With “Game of Thrones” skyrocketing her to fame, Sophie Turner quickly transitioned from an ordinary high school student to a celebrated actress, trading school desks for glamorous events and red carpets. While many dream of such a life, Turner occasionally laments missing out on typical young adult experiences—like enjoying a college party without the fear of it turning into tabloid fodder.

Nevertheless, Turner holds no regrets about spending her formative years on the “Game of Thrones” set, even if it meant forgoing the carefree nights her peers enjoyed. For her, the set was a haven of sorts, where she felt secure. During the early filming days, Peter Dinklage would often remind the cast not to swear in her presence, highlighting the protective environment that surrounded her, despite the profanity-laden script that awaited them.

“I wish I’d had the university experience,” she said on “The Graham Norton Show” (via Cosmopolitan). “I wish I could have gone out and drunk a lot and thrown up in the middle of a club without it being photographed!”

Still, she doesn’t regret spending her teens and early 20s on the “Game of Thrones” set, despite missing out on the blurry nights that her non-famous peers got to enjoy. For Turner, it was a space where she felt protected. During the early days of filming, Peter Dinklage would oftentimes warn cast members to not swear in front of her (even though the next scene to be shot was chock-full of foul language).

In our modern era of social media and keyboard warriors, fame is usually synonymous with a flood of online commentary — both good and bad. While Sophie Turner certainly had her share of kind fan comments during her “Game of Thrones” run, she also experienced some deeply hurtful remarks that had a profound impact on her wellbeing.

In an interview on the “Phil in the Blanks” podcast, she recalled to Dr. Phil how strangers regularly speculated about weight gain, and made nasty comments about blemishes on her skin and her acting skills. Turner said, “I would just believe it. I would say, ‘Yeah, I am spotty. I am fat. I am a bad actress.’ I would just believe it. I would get [the costume department] to tighten my corset a lot. I just got very, very self-conscious.”

Turner eventually developed an eating disorder and sought the assistance of a companion (a live-in therapist), who helped her practice healthy nutrition habits, form a more positive body image, and realize that those comments shouldn’t hold such power in her life. She told Elle UK, “[My therapist] said to me, ‘You know, no one actually cares. I know you think this, but nobody else is thinking it. You’re not that important.’ That was the best thing anyone could have told me.”

When Sansa Stark heads to King’s Landing, her dreams of marrying one of the show’s most annoying characters, Prince Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson), and living happily ever after are quickly dashed when she learns of the young ruler’s sadistic ways. But somehow, he becomes the least of her worries. In “Game of Thrones” Season 5, she’s sexually assaulted by her new husband, Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), as Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) is forced to helplessly witness it.

In an interview with Metro.co.uk, Rheon described that filming experience as the “worst day” of his career. And Sophie Turner is in agreement. As a 19-year-old when Season 5 was shot, Turner often found herself grappling with the dark subject matter of Sansa’s storyline. She told The Cut, “I’m sure I’ll exhibit some symptoms of trauma down the road. At that age, I don’t think I could comprehend a lot of the scene matter. And the first few years, I had my mom with me because she was chaperoning me, so she would be very helpful and give me snacks.”

In addition to some maternal comfort on set, Turner developed a coping mechanism that was vital in preventing Sansa’s world from completely consuming her — taking advantage of the time between takes. During those breaks, no matter how brief, she was able to step out of Sansa’s shoes, laugh with her costars (she constantly had Pedro Pascal cracking up), dance, and simply have fun to counter the darkness of the script. 

Throughout her life — but especially when negative social media commentary took over — Sophie Turner experienced anxiety and depression. Rather than ask for help, she’d often isolate, shutting loved ones out for long stretches of time. In fact, during some of those difficult periods, she experienced suicidal ideation.

“I say that I wasn’t depressed when I was younger, but I used to think about suicide a lot when I was younger. I don’t know why though,” she said on the “Phil in the Blanks” podcast. “Maybe it’s just a weird fascination I used to have, but yeah, I used to think about it. I don’t think I ever would have gone through with it. I don’t know.”

Over the years, Turner learned how important it is to not shut herself off when feeling anxious or depressed. Though she still experiences both as an adult, she now has an arsenal of healthy coping techniques — including weekly therapy sessions, an occasional vacation, or calling a friend — to make it more manageable. She told Elle UK, “I know what I have to do to get myself into a good headspace. It’s not debilitating — I know how to get myself out of it.”

After eight seasons of rising above political games, death, and abuse (with some fans even saying she went too far in her revenge against Ramsay Bolton), Sansa Stark enjoys the ultimate redemption arc when she’s crowned the independent Queen in the North — carrying on the legacies of her late brother, Robb Stark (Richard Madden), and father. However, despite some happy endings, the final season of “Game of Thrones” was met with staunch hatred by the masses … and Sophie Turner was not pleased.

She had some particularly blunt words for one Change.org petition, which described David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as being “woefully incompetent writers,” and called for a redo of the series finale. The petition garnered over 1.8 million signatures. One comment said, “As an avid fan of this series, this season seems as though it was a concerted effort to ruin every character that they had on screen…,” while another simply said, “GOT 8th season is dogs***.”

In an interview with The New York Times, Turner said, “All of these petitions and things like that — I think it’s disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season. Like, 50-something night shoots. So many people worked so, so hard on it, and for people to just rubbish it because it’s not what they want to see is just disrespectful.”

After tying the knot in a Las Vegas elopement in 2019, Sophie Turner was thrilled to be married to singer Joe Jonas. However, life in LA — and as a Jonas wife — wasn’t exactly the fairytale she envisioned. For starters, she wasn’t used to the isolation and lack of community that came with being an LA resident. If she wanted to see a friend, she’d have to commute at least half an hour. Additionally, she resented the loss of self that came with the marriage. Despite being an Emmy-nominated actor in a major television show, her public identity became synonymous with her husband’s.

“There was a lot of attention on the three brothers and the wives. Well, we [myself, Danielle Jonas, and Priyanka Chopra] were always called ‘the wives’ and I hated that,” she said in an interview with British Vogue. “It was kind of this plus-one feeling. And that’s nothing to do with him [Joe] — in no way did he make me feel that — it was just that the perception of us was as the groupies in the band.”

Though the couple relocated to Miami in 2021, Turner would only feel more isolated. She had no friends in the area and, due to the older demographic of their community, it was practically impossible to make any new ones. She said, “I just felt like a little bird trapped in a gilded cage.”

In July 2019, a little over a year after welcoming him into their family, Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’ dog, Waldo Picasso, was fatally struck by a car during a walk in New York City. While on a stroll in Manhattan’s Lower East Side with the couple’s dog walker, the Alaskan Klee Kai got scared, fled from his caretaker, and ran into the street, where he was hit before he could be brought back to safety. At the time, Jonas’ rep described it as a “freak accident” (via TMZ).

Following the tragedy, Turner and Jonas sought therapy to try and cope with the loss. A few days later, they got matching tattoos to honor Waldo and have his memory permanently etched into their skin. The black and grey realistic portrait features Waldo with his tongue out looking playful — exactly how they wanted to remember him before his untimely death. Turner, who shared a picture of her meaningful ink on Instagram Stories, said (via Allure), “I miss you, Waldo. Rest in peace my little baby.”

After four years of marriage and welcoming two children, Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas went through a highly public divorce in 2023 that was surrounded by rumors and countless “he said, she said” tabloid headlines. Speculations that the marriage was in trouble swirled when Jonas Brothers fans noticed his left hand looking pretty empty. Turns out, they were onto something, with Jonas filing for divorce mere days later, stating the marriage was “irretrievably broken” (via Cosmopolitan). 

While both parties posted on social media about “amicably” ending their marriage, accusations from unnamed sources kept popping up in the news — with many of these stories painting Turner in a negative light. From the allegation that Jonas heard her say something damning on their ring camera, to the endless paparazzi photos with Taylor Swift, to claims that she wanted to lead a wilder lifestyle, Turner heard it all.

“It’s a total fishbowl. And people take so much as fact these days. Any article that comes out, people go, ‘Right, that must have happened,’” she said in an interview with Net-A-Porter. “You feel like you’re gagged because silence is always the way to let something die out. But it means that you can’t stand up for yourself ever, so there’s a feeling of helplessness and shame.”

Throughout their divorce, Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’ custody battle over their two daughters, Willa and Delphine, also made headlines. In September 2023, after agreeing that they’d share custody but the kids’ primary address would be in England, Turner filed a lawsuit against Jonas for the “wrongful retention of two children” (via Today). Allegedly, when Turner attempted to pick up Willa and Delphine and return to England, Jonas declined to hand over their passports.

The lawsuit was dismissed in January 2024, with the former couple able to reach a custody agreement … but not before Jonas’ camp released their own statement that painted Turner in a negative light. According to the statement (via People), Turner and Jonas had a cordial meeting to discuss custody details, yet she allegedly “demanded” the passports less than 24 hours later. The statement says, in part, “When language like ‘abduction’ is used, it is misleading at best and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst. The children were not abducted.”

This period of time was extremely difficult for Turner, who told British Vogue, “There were some days that I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I would call my lawyer saying, ‘I can’t do this. I just can’t.’ I was just never strong enough to stand up for myself. And then, finally, after two weeks of me being in a rut, she reminded me that it was my children I was fighting for. Once anyone says to me, ‘Do it for your kids,’ I’m doing it. I wouldn’t do it for myself, but I’ll find the strength for them.” 

In the midst of her divorce and custody battle, Sophie Turner was busy in England on the set of the drama series “Joan,” where she brought a fiercely maternal jewel thief to life on screen. After some snaps from a “Joan” wrap party made the rounds online, a narrative was quickly painted — she was living a carefree, wild lifestyle, while Joe Jonas, who had Willa and Delphine until Turner finished filming, tended to his parental responsibilities. At this time, many believed her to be a bad mother.

“I mean, those were the worst few days of my life,” she told British Vogue of seeing the articles while stuck on the set of “Joan.” “It hurt because I really do completely torture myself over every move I make as a mother — mum guilt is so real! I just kept having to say to myself, ‘None of this is true. You are a good mum and you’ve never been a partier.’”

While the wrap party photos do show Turner all-smiles, drink in hand, the narrative that outlets pushed online — that she was carefree and skirting motherhood — was, according to her, entirely false. She told British Vogue, “It’s unfathomable the amount of people that will just make s*** up and put it up based on a picture. A picture might tell a thousand words, but it’s not my story. It felt like I was watching a movie of my life that I hadn’t written, hadn’t produced, or starred in. It was shocking. I’m still in shock.”

As Sophie Turner enters her 30s, she’s continuing to prove herself as a multifaceted actor beyond “Game of Thrones.” Following in the footsteps of Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander, Turner is portraying Laura Croft in the Prime Video adaptation of “Tomb Raider.” A highly-anticipated project, with fans already imagining what Turner will look like as Laura (via now-controversial AI art), “Tomb Raider” is set for release in 2027. However, Turner’s experience on set wasn’t exactly smooth.

In March 2026, Turner suffered a back injury while filming, causing production to halt for around a month. She’s back in action, but this time, it’s unknown if will affect the 2027 release date.

According to a Prime Video rep (via Variety), “Sophie Turner experienced a minor injury. As a precaution, production has briefly paused to allow her time to recover. We look forward to resuming production as soon as possible.” That’s good news for fans.

If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA’s Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org