Maisie Williams Opened Up About the Good and Bad of Playing Arya Stark

Maisie Williams played iconic tomboy Arya Stark to perfection for 8 seasons on Game Of Thrones, but coming of age in the spotlight was no easy task. In a new interview, the actor opened up about the blessings and challenges of growing up on set.

“I don’t think it’s healthy [to miss Game of Thrones], because I loved it,” she told GQ UK. “I look at it so fondly, and I look at it with such pride. But why would I want to make myself feel sad about the greatest thing that ever happened to me? I don’t want to associate that with feelings of pain.”

Despite how much she appreciated the experience, there were difficult moments. Williams pinpointed the first day she wore a bra as part of her costume as a turning point. “I think that when I started becoming a woman, I resented Arya because I couldn’t express who I was becoming,” she said. “And then I also resented my body, because it wasn’t aligned with the piece of me that the world celebrated.”

Nowadays, having moved out of London and to a new home in the country, she feels much more comfortable with herself. “I didn’t confront it until I moved here,” she reflected. “The more I tried to be like, ‘Am I like her? Am I like him?’, the more confused I got. Now I just feel like I am doing everything I want to do when I want to do it.”

“I look in the mirror and realize: ‘I see who you are.’”