Actress Masie Williams who is famed for her role as Arya Stark in ‘Game of Thrones’ frankly spoke about her broken relationship with her father and confessed that their relationship covered a large part of her childhood.
Maisie Williams has publicly talked about her personal life in a way that is unheard by her fans. At the age of 12 she took on the role of Arya Stark who is a fan favorite main character on Game of Thrones. Now, behind the scenes, Williams says she had a tough relationship with her father.
In a current interview with Steven Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO podcast, Williams opened up about this sensitive topic. She said that she and her mother “escaped” from her father when she was just four months old, even though she maintained some contact with him until Williams was 8 years old. She did not provide several details on the matters specifically within her family, saying: “[I] 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.”
Maisie Williams did say that in a way she was “indoctrinated” into a “child cult,” and that she underwent “fear” and “pain” at her father’s hands. She shared it took years for her to understand how the behavior of her father was wrong, and gaining popularity through her adolescence seemingly made that more difficult.
“That really consumed a lot of my childhood. Ever since I can remember, I’ve really struggled sleeping,” said Williams. “I think a lot of the traumatic things that were happening, I didn’t realize they were wrong. But I knew… I would look around at other kids and be like, ‘Why don’t they seem to understand this pain, or dread, or fear? Where does the joy – when does that come for me?’ I had that feeling of impending doom and I didn’t know how to make that go away. There is a period of your childhood when things can stunt or alter forever who you are going to become.”
It was revealed by Williams why at the age of 8 things turned around for her because she disclosed what was happening at her home to a teacher at school. She said: “When I was about eight, there was quite a complex string of events that happened, but basically it had met its peak and I was at school and I was really struggling. I was taken by a teacher to the staff room. She asked me what had happened, she said, ‘Are you hungry?’ and I said ‘Yeah.’ She asked me if I ate breakfast, I said ‘No,’ she said, ‘Why not?’ I said we just didn’t have any breakfast, and then she asked if I normally had breakfast. They were asking the right questions. My mum came to school and picked me up. It was the first time that all of the doors were open and all of these things that we were experiencing were out on the table.”
Williams expressed that she was petrified when she was first separated from her father, and grudged the authority figures that pulled her away from her known stuff. She also said that it took quite some time for the realization that she was better off this way. She said: “I was so glad I didn’t have to see my dad anymore, but it was against everything I’d ever known. You can feel so liberated and free and at the same time, just like that impending doom is kind of still there. All your problems don’t just go away, you still care a lot about that person or the pain that led to those very, very poor decisions.”
Earlier the 25-year-old actress has not shared details about her home life, so fans are fascinated by these glances behind the scenes. Momentarily, it appears that she plans to keep the elements to herself.
At present, Williams has two upcoming projects in the work namely the movie Sinner V. Saints and the TV series The New Look. Currently, Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max.
