Kit Harington (Jon Snow) met Rose Leslie (Ygritte) on the set of Game of Thrones during season 2. A decade later, the couple is happily married and the proud parents of a son who they welcomed in February 2021. Harington’s life as a new dad has come with a lot of surprises. He says there is one thing that his son does that leaves him and Leslie “terrified.”
Kit Harington thanks ‘Game of Thrones’ for introducing him to Rose Leslie
Harington and Leslie tied the knot in the summer of 2018 before the final season of Game of Thrones aired on HBO. When the series came to an end a year later, Harington reflected on how life-changing it had been for him.
He told GQ Australia how awesome it would be if he and Leslie ever had children because they would get to see how their parents got together.
“A lot of people meet their other halves at work. Our work just happened to be this iconic TV show,” Harington said at the time. “I have no idea if we will, but say me and Rose do have children. They’ll know. They’ll be able to see the genesis of their parents getting together. Which is quite a wonderful thought, really. I thank the show for everything. But more than anything else, I thank it for introducing me to her.”
He struggled with the end of ‘Game of Thrones’
Harington has admitted to struggling with the end of Game of Thrones. When the series finale aired in 2019, he checked himself into rehab to get help with his alcohol problem. He recently told The Guardian that he thinks he might have become an actor because of the same issues that fueled his addiction. He says he’s always been a “show-off” who loves getting attention.
“This is a very addictive job,” Harington confessed. “In a week’s time, I’m going to go out, stand on stage and get applause and it’s going to be a huge rush and a high. The trouble is, I never really wanted to come down from that high. Now, I’ve learned how to do that and I’m much happier for it.”
Kit Harington and Rose Leslie’s son does something that leaves them ‘terrified’
Harington has now been sober for three years, and his son has just turned one. He says he feels much more grounded and settled now. He’s also grateful that he got sober before having a child. However, Harington and Leslie have noticed that their son has inherited a trait that’s left them terrified.
“You know, I’ve noticed that my little boy loves applause,” Harington says. “He’s the son of two actors so he’s going to, isn’t he? But everything he does, he wants applause. It’s making me and Rose terrified.”
Being a new parent has come with a lot of surprises
Harington noted that he’s learned some “surprising” lessons since becoming a dad. He says that people always tell you how big of a life change it is. But you have no way of knowing just how big until it happens.
“What surprises you, is you go, ‘Oh, this goes on forever! You don’t get a break from it!’ … Every day I wake up and I look after this little human. And now we’re part of a unit together,” Harington told Access Hollywood.
Kit Harington looks back on ‘Game of Thrones’ with ‘great fondness’
Despite his difficulty toward the end of Game of Thrones, Harington says that he still looks back on the HBO series with “great fondness.” After all, he wouldn’t have his family if it wasn’t for that show.
“I feel very privileged to have been in it and I’m continuing to get to be in the theater, in large part, because of that show,” Harington said. “There’s a baby boy downstairs, and my wife, who I met on the show. I looked at it from a perspective of tortuousness and anxiousness a lot when I was in it. I’ve got no reason to be doing that now.”
All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are available on HBO Max.
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