Rose Leslie Speaks On Her Husband, Kit Harrington's Past Alcohol Addiction

After starring in the highly successful HBO series "Game of Thrones, Actors Rose Leslie and Kit Harrington became household names.

Leslie is famous for her role as Ygritte, a free woman who lived among the wildlings. Harrington, on the other hand, rose to prominence thanks to his portrayal of Jon Snow, Ned Stark's illegitimate son. The couple had an on-screen relationship that ended tragically owing to their allegiances to opposing fighting factions.

The pair took the unexpected step of turning their on-screen romance into reality, marrying in a lovely Scottish ceremony in 2018. Since then, the pair has lived happily ever after, despite a few storms along the way, as seen by her latest admission of her husband's handling of his addiction.

In the cover story for Harper's Bazaar UK's June 2022 issue, Leslie opened up about how her husband overcame alcohol addiction and has been working on living his life free of such indulgence.

"For Kit, being an addict, it's very important for him to recognize himself as such," she told the publication.

The actress 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."

Back in 2019, Kit checked into a rehab facility in Connecticut just before the final episode of Game of Thrones aired, which forced him to take a break from acting. Although it took a while, the actor fully regained himself from the pits of addiction and depression and started his ongoing journey of abstaining from the battle.

Harrington is "doing well," as Leslie would go on to say in the interview, and has been alcohol-free for over three years.

Leslie stood by Harrington during his period of alcoholism and was one of the few individuals who knew about his plight. Despite the strain on their relationship, the actress did not consider leaving and finally assisted him in entering a recovery center.

Now that Harrington has recovered from his addiction, the star of "The Good Fight" feels it is up to him to avoid relapsing back into his past addiction.

She opined: "I've learned 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 for his behavior is on him. It's not on me to guard him from it."

Harrington first addressed his battle with addiction in August of last year, informing The Sunday Times that after "Game of Thrones" ended in 2019, he suffered from severe depression as well as a worsened case of alcohol addiction.

"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," the actor told the news outlet, recounting those dark moments in his life.

Going through this struggle taught Harrington several valuable lessons, one of which was the awareness that he could alter his ways if and only if he wanted to. When things became tough, he clung to the idea that he could make a massive, fundamental shift in who he was, which helped him resist the impulse to revert to his old habits.

The pair has kept most elements of their relationship secret since their wedding, even during Harrington's addiction battles, choosing to live their personal lives away from the media's glare and the negative impacts it may have.

Harrington's addiction issues may have contributed to the need to live a private life, but with that now out of the way, the couple is now trying to expand their circle and live it up a little.

"We're going to make a home, try to make friends. We're just going to use our son!" she said, joking about their 14-month-old baby boy in the interview. "In London, we're firing on all cylinders, and when we get to the countryside, we can just turn it all off."

According to Harper's Bazaar UK, the two purchased a second home in Suffolk, which they planned to move to when Harington's performances of Henry V at the Donmar Warehouse in London were over. The duo is still actively acting have some upcoming projects slated to debut soon.