Sophie Turner Revealed Extreme Calorie Counting Caused Her Not to Have Her Period for a Year

After being candid about the pressure she felt to lose weight while filming Game of Thrones, Sophie Turner is now revealing just how severely those comments about her body ultimately affected her physical and mental health.

In a new interview with the Sunday Times, Turner explained the extreme measures she took to control her body image in the public eye. “Suddenly, everyone’s metabolism slows down at 17, 18 and then that’s documented,” she told the outlet.

“My skin and everything. People commenting on it. I was too aware of my body at a young age. And it just kind of took over my mind, it was all I would think about. Calorie counting, everything. Oh, I’ll just eat nuts today.”

Meanwhile, it wasn't just the film studio who made her hyper-aware of her appearance. Social media also played a huge role. “Having your adolescence being displayed in public, that’s something I really wish hadn’t happened,” Turner said of growing up on Game of Thrones.

“Being in the age of social media when that’s happening, I think I would be a much saner person if I hadn’t been documented from 13 — your most awkward, uncomfortable, unsure-of-yourself years.” But it wasn't until she stopped having her period due to her restrictive diet that she began to seek help. "I stopped having my period for a year — that’s when I decided to have therapy," Sophie added.

Now-husband Joe Jonas also helped the actress through her dark time, as she explains she met him at age 20 when she was "going through this phase of being very mentally unwell." Turner credits Jonas for "saving my life," and says he taught her to learn to love herself.

“He was, like, ‘I can’t be with you until you love yourself, I can’t see you love me more than you love yourself.’ That was something, him doing that,” she said. “I think he kind of saved my life, in a way.”