Sophie Turner Still Haunted by Game of Thrones' Most Controversial Scene
Sophie Turner was just 19 when she was part of arguably the most controversial scene to take place across all 8 seasons of Game of Thrones.
The scene, which saw her character, Sansa Stark, violently raped by her husband Ramsay Bolton on their wedding night while Theon Greyjoy was forced to watch, was one that received a huge number of complaints.
One of the most chilling lines in the whole scene occurs when Ramsay says to Theon. "You've known Sansa since she was a girl. Now watch her become a woman."
In what was already a tough watch that sentence confirmed exactly what was about to happen.
But this wasn't the first time Sansa had been at the heart of such a harrowing scene. She was also abused by both Petyr Baelish and Joffrey Baratheon – who had her stripped and beaten by a knight as punishment for the deeds of her brother.
Turner also revealed that she learned coping mechanisms while filming Game of Thrones that she has used on other sets as her career has progressed.
She described the subject matter on Game of Thrones as "heavy" and said she found that having fun and enjoying herself between takes prevented her from being traumatised at the time. And it's worth noting that she effectively grew up on set.
Taking on the role of Sansa at the age of 15, during her early years on the show, she had the advantage of being chaperoned by her mum, who she said was "helpful" and would give her snacks.
While she didn't have any scenes at such a young age as her wedding night scene, there were still some pretty meaty scenes for such a young actor to take on. At the time, she says, she was too young to fully comprehend some of the subject matter.
But she's sure she'll "exhibit some symptoms of trauma down the road" as a result of her time on the show and, in particular, the rape scene.
And it wasn't just Turner who was affected by filming such a grotesquely violent scene. Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) described filming the scene as the "worst day" ever in acting and said it had been "very difficult to deal with."
He told Metro that "nobody wanted to be there" and described it as "horrible," adding it's something that "shouldn't exist" in the world but does.
And despite hating everything about the scene, Rheon still believes that when telling a story "you have to tell it truthfully."