‘You’re open wound as a parent’, says Thrones star

GAME Of Thrones star Carice van Houten has admitted she has struggled to explore the darker side of her character since becoming a mother.

The Dutch actress portrays red priestess Melisandre, who burns the young Princess Shireen at the stake as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light in the fifth series of the hit drama.

Ms Van Houten, 40, who is married to Australian actor Guy Pearce, said she would struggle to film that scene now after giving birth to her first child last year.

“I don’t think I could’ve done the scene with Shireen,” she said

“I remember reading it and I thought this was the worst scene I ever shot. But I couldn’t really feel what it meant, I just knew it was horrible. And now I can’t watch anything on TV with children or animals or anything – you’re just an open wound once you become a parent.”

Asked if she could watch the episode back, she said: “I don’t even know if I could, actually. You hear a lot of people say, ‘I don’t know if I could watch it’. People who just have babies saying it’s too much.”

Ms Van Houten also revealed she “broke apart” after having to return to filming six weeks after giving birth.

“It was a little too early. He was at home and I remember one scene I did, I was in the green room and I just broke apart. I was alone and someone came in and said ‘Are you OK?’ and I just said, ‘I just want to go to my baby’. It all became unimportant to me. It’s a great important show, but once you’ve just had a baby nothing else really matters.”

She also shared her excitement about the show’s seventh series and said she is enjoying playing a more vulnerable Melisandre.

“It was very hard to defend her for a long time, I was struggling hard. But I was very happy when she actually confesses she was wrong and that made her human for me.”

Game Of Thrones Season 7 premieres on July 17 on Sky Atlantic and Now TV at 2am, repeated at 9pm the same day.