Hannah Murray, best known for playing Gilly on Game of Thrones, has opened up about her experience with a wellness organization that she describes as having cult-like characteristics—an experience that left her hospitalized and questioning her own reality.
In a candid interview with The Guardian, Murray detailed how she became involved with a group that promised spiritual enlightenment and personal growth, only to find herself isolated, manipulated, and eventually "sectioned"—the UK term for involuntary psychiatric commitment.
"I thought I was the saviour of the planet," Murray said, describing the grandiose delusions she developed while under the group's influence. "It sounds absurd now, but when you're in it, when everyone around you is reinforcing these ideas, it becomes your reality."
What makes Murray's story particularly relevant is how it illuminates the darker side of wellness culture—an industry that's become a multi-trillion-dollar behemoth selling everything from juice cleanses to quantum healing. The line between self-improvement and self-destruction is thinner than the industry wants to admit.
Murray's experience is far from unique. The entertainment industry, with its emphasis on perfection, youth, and transformation, creates perfect conditions for exploitative wellness groups to prey on vulnerable performers. Add fame, money, and the isolation that comes with both, and you have a population at serious risk.
What's striking about Murray's interview is her willingness to talk about mental health stigma directly. Being "sectioned" carries enormous shame in most cultures, and for a public figure to discuss it openly is both brave and necessary. Too many people suffer in silence because seeking help is seen as weakness or career suicide.
Murray has since recovered and returned to acting, but she's clear-eyed about the lasting impact. "I lost time," she said.
