The Untold Truth Of Maisie Williams And Sophie Turner's Friendship

When season one of Game of Thrones first aired in 2011 few people could anticipate the phenomenon that it'd become. By the time that filming wrapped in 2019, it was so clear that the cast had become closer than coworkers. W Magazine outlined that after growing up together onscreen, Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner's relationship had changed forever. They were family on and off-screen, and Rolling Stone revealed that eight years working together brought them closer than you could imagine.

When auditions took place for Game of Thrones, Rolling Stone explained that Williams was only 12 years old and Turner was 13. It was both of their first big breaks and speaking to the publication, Turner said, "we were pretty much best friends from that second on." Turner and Williams had the unique experience of only being a year apart in age and living out their teenage years on screen.

Turner has been open about the highs and lows of starring in one of the most successful TV shows so young. Speaking to Dr. Phil on the Phil in the Blanks podcast she said, "I have a friend, Maisie, who was on the show with me, she's just a year younger than me and she and I were growing up together. She was my best friend, and she was the only one I really told about all of it."

They were a duo on and off-screen but here's what you might not know about Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner's relationship.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Williams said that her on-screen chemistry with Turner is "real magic." Their closeness really translates. And in an interview with Glamour, Turner said that some people have misinterpreted this. "Maisie is definitely my protector and I'm hers, too. I know if anything happened – especially if it was on Game Of Thrones, which it never, ever would — she'd go crazy and protect me ... Maisie is my strong home," she said, "People always think Maisie and I are a couple. I mean, I am obsessed with her, so you never know ... I've got an addiction to Maisie Williams. I actually stalk her hashtag on Instagram."

While their Game of Thrones characters were sisters, Turner told Conan O'Brien that the pair were aware of the dating rumors and played into them on set. "On the set, we would kind of do the scene, then try and kiss each other in the middle of the scene and see if anyone would react," she said, "It's Game of Thrones, so incest is so normal that they were like, 'Alright, that's fine.'"

Williams and Turner have been so open and the time they've spent together through filming Game of Thrones and since. However, Turner told Dr. Phil that this wasn't always the most healthy thing. On the Phil in the Blanks podcast, she said, "Maisie and I used to do it [stay inside] together. I think being friends with each other was quite destructive because we were going through the same thing. We used to get home from set, go to a Tesco across the road, a little supermarket, and just buy food. We'd go back to our room and eat it in bed. We never socialized for a couple of years. We didn't socialize with anyone but ourselves."

This intense time together meant they grew up knowing each other totally. Speaking to Dr. Phil, Turner explained that this meant that when both Williams and herself were struggling with their mental health during filming, they had each other's backs. Williams told Glamour, "I can't tell you the amount of times Sophie said, 'Go to therapy,' before I actually did. She really helped me through some messy break-ups and some friend break-ups. Whenever I'm like, 'I need help! This is bigger than anything I can sort out on my own,' Sophie is my point of call. I think therapy is so important. You should absolutely speak to someone, even if in your head you go, 'Yeah, I knew that!'"