British actress Hannah Murray, who played wildling Gilly in Game of Thrones and Cassie in Skins, has revealed that she was sectioned after being recruited into a wellness cult.
For those not in the UK, “sectioned” means being involuntarily admitted for psychiatric treatment.
Despite not doing much TV or film since Game of Thrones ended in 2019 (there’s one notable credit in the horror series The Expecting in 2020), 35-year-old Hannah is releasing her memoir next year in which she shares more about the events which led up to her being sectioned.
Speaking about the book, the Bristol-born actress said: “The Make-Believe tells a deeply personal story that has lived inside me for many years and which it now feels vital to share.”
The publishers, Hutchinson Heinemann told The Sun: “This is the story of the blurred line between what is real, and what is an illusion; what we must accept and what we wish to be true; between solid earth beneath your feet and a world where anything is possible if you only commit. It is about the lure of those that tell us they can save us, and the deceptive structure of organisations that promise us ‘wellness’.
“It’s about the acting world, but also about the way all of us act, hiding our vulnerabilities from everyone except the people trained to prey on them.”
Funnily enough, Hannah’s character on Skins battled mental health problems and an eating disorder, and she also played Leslie Van Houten in a movie about the Manson family, probably the most notorious cult of all time. So it’s kinda wild to think that her life imitated her art in this way.
Hannah told Backstage: “I think [maintaining mental health is] something I learned a lot over the course of my career. My first role, I played a girl with anorexia who had suicide attempts and addiction problems, and it was heavy stuff.
“And I thought being an actor meant being tortured and angst-ridden and suffering and [that] I had to feel everything for real and hold on to it. I really believed in the idea of the tortured artist. And that is not sustainable, by any means.”
Unfortunately there’s no mention anywhere in the articles about what this “wellness” cult entailed exactly, so I guess we’ll have to wait for Hannah’s book to release in order to find out. I’m guessing the cult is based in the UK, and there’s some speculation that it could be a group called ‘Lighthouse’ or the ‘Concord Institute’ which have some British actors associated with them.
Will be interesting to see what exactly this “wellness” cult involved exactly as I’m guessing it’s more than just doing yoga and maintaining a healthy diet if Hannah Murray was sectioned over it. Hannah’s book will be out in summer 2026. Yes, 2026! Just 500 or so sleeps to go then…
