Hannah Murray, known for Game of Thrones’ Gilly and Skins’ Cassie Ainsworth, says she’s no longer acting—and is genuinely relieved. In interviews and her memoir, she traces how her career-era roles and online abuse fed a mental health spiral that included a ps
Hannah Murray doesn’t just say she stopped acting. She sounds like she’s found her way out of a place she no longer wants to revisit.
The 36-year-old actress—best known for playing Gilly on Game of Thrones and Cassie Ainsworth on Skins—has stepped away from the spotlight for several years, and now speaks openly about why she’s glad she’s no longer “part of that world.”
In her new book, “The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness,” Murray describes how she was drawn into a wellness cult. That path, she writes, led to a psychotic break and hospitalization. She’s carried those memories into her public conversations, too.
In a new interview with The Guardian, Murray said that at least once a week she thinks to herself, “Thank God I don’t act anymore.” She added that the feeling—“I’m not an actor anymore”—comes with a “real surge of joy.”
Her account also turns toward what certain roles cost her emotionally. On Skins, she played Cassie Ainsworth in a storyline connected to an eating disorder. Murray said. “It was horrible. like the sewer of the internet.” She described what she says was an onslaught of cruel commentary: for every person telling her body was “thinspiration. ” there was someone else insisting. “She’s disgusting.”.
She didn’t just read the comments once and move on. Murray said she became “addicted” to reading them online—something that turned the feedback cycle into a daily burden.
Eventually, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Reflecting on her time as an actress. Murray said. “I struggled for a long time with this idea that I wasn’t entitled to feel as sad as I did. There wasn’t anything wrong with me. I was privileged to have this incredible career. Why couldn’t I just be happy all the time?. Be grateful.”.
It’s a stark contrast to the work that made her famous—Game of Thrones’ Gilly and Skins’ Cassie Ainsworth—because in Murray’s telling. the spotlight came with an invisible price tag. Now. she’s clearer than ever about what she wants: a life where she isn’t answering to the role of “actor. ” and where her weekly thought is simply relief.
Hannah Murray Game of Thrones Gilly Skins Cassie Ainsworth The Make-Believe memoir wellness cult psychotic break hospitalization bipolar disorder mental health internet comments