Former Game of Thrones and Skins star Hannah Murray has spoken publicly for the first time about her descent into a wellness cult that led to a psychotic episode and her being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. In a new memoir, The Make-Believe, the 36-year-old actress details how she was drawn into a mysterious spiritual community that promised wisdom and specialness while costing her thousands of pounds.
Murray, who played Gilly in the fantasy epic and Cassie in the E4 teen drama, says she joined the cult at the age of 27 after years of struggling with the pressures of acting, including constant focus on her weight, demands to undress for scenes, and the emotional rollercoaster of auditions. She described the group's leader as wearing a symbolic necklace and carrying a giant Starbucks cup, and said she now looks back on the experience as 'ludicrous'.
The actress experienced a catastrophic psychotic episode that required her to be sectioned in an acute mental health unit. A psychiatrist later diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. In the nine years since, Murray has written The Make-Believe as a 'frank and often darkly funny exploration of the convergence of hedonism with the self-help industry'.
Murray said she is now relieved to have left acting behind. 'Thank God I don’t act any more,' she says she thinks at least once a week. She now lives in an East Anglian town, does not drink or smoke, and focuses on writing and cooking. She stays away from the wellness industry entirely.
