Maisie Williams Gets Emotional While Speaking On Her 'Traumatic' Childhood

"Game of Thrones" star, Maisie Williams recently broke down as she spoke on her traumatic childhood relationship with her Dad. Williams recently discussed her life before fame and said the trauma of her relationship with her father consumed her childhood.

The actress recalled an incident at school when she was eight when a teacher pulled her aside out of worry and asked what was happening at home. She said it was that incident that made her mom take her away. Williams shared that she struggled with mixed emotions for a long time but was glad she didn't have to see her Dad anymore.

Williams has previously spoken about her mental health and once revealed that becoming famous at 12 affected her self-esteem and mental health. She said many negative thoughts she had about herself were spurred by the negative comments and intense criticism from social media.

Read on to find out more.

During a recent interview with Steven Bartlett on his "Diary of a CEO Podcast," Williams spoke about her life before she rose to fame as Arya Stark on HBO's "Game of Thrones." She also discussed the effects of her childhood trauma on her mental health as she grew older.

Williams said per (HuffPost), "Well, I, as a young child before the age of, like, 8, had a traumatic relationship with my Dad. And I don't want to go into it too much because it affects my siblings and my whole family. But, like, that really consumed a lot of my childhood. Ever since I can remember, I've really struggled sleeping."

The actress explained that at the time, she didn't understand all the traumatic things happening to her and "didn't realize that they were wrong." She said she had to handle her feelings and experiences alone because her mom "escaped when I was about four months old."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpw_DbRqy5Q

Williams revealed during the interview that the situation at home with her Dad "met its peak" when she was eight years old. The actress explained that one day at school, a teacher called her into the staff room and asked what was happening at home. She said, "And she was saying, like, 'What's wrong,' you know, like, what's happened? Are you hungry?'... 'Did you eat breakfast?'"

Williams broke down at this moment, getting emotional as she said, "I said, 'No.' And she said, 'Oh, why not?' And I said, 'We just don't have any breakfast.' And then she says, you know, 'Do you normally have breakfast?'" She said the teacher was "asking the right questions" and that after that, her mom picked her up and took her away from her Dad.

However, Williams had become so used to the trauma and abuse that she experienced mixed feelings after escaping. She said, "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. Because I'm, like, I get it. I get it. I was in a child cult."

Williams explained that although she was finally free and didn't have to see her father anymore, she still struggled with mixed emotions about him. The actress said, "You can feel so liberated and free and at the same time, just like that impending doom is kind of still there." Williams also said that she's since battled with her identity, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

She said, "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 thought there was something inherently wrong with me, that it could be anyone experiencing the pain." Williams explained she's interested in understanding her father and why he mistreated his own kids and said, "he would make a fascinating documentary."

Williams has gotten candid about her mental health severally in the past. During a recent interview on the "Happy Place" podcast per HuffPost, Williams said that being exposed to fame at an early age negatively affected her self-esteem and mental health as she grew older.

She said, "I went through a huge period of my life where I'd tell myself every day I hated myself." Williams explained that the negative thoughts were triggered by the negative comments and intense criticism she saw about herself on social media. Eventually, her mom had to start screening what she read about herself.

Williams continued, "It's just a constant feed in your back pocket of what people think of you. And I think we'd all like to say that we would turn a blind eye and wouldn't care, but it's impossible to do… It gets to a point where you're almost craving something negative, so you can just sit in a hole of sadness."