{"id":9019,"date":"2026-07-17T22:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9019"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:53:11","slug":"lena-headey-says-game-of-thrones-fans-got-angry-she-didnt-go-nude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9019","title":{"rendered":"Lena Headey Says &#8216;Game of Thrones&#8217; Fans Got Angry She Didn&#8217;t Go Nude"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/lena-headey\/\" id=\"auto-tag_lena-headey\" data-tag=\"lena-headey\">Lena Headey<\/a> gave a wide-ranging<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/radio\/what-to-listen-to\/lena-headey-interview\" target=\"_blank\"> interview with The Telegraph<\/a> and opened up on her experiences in Hollywood with nudity and predatory men. The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/game-of-thrones\/\" id=\"auto-tag_game-of-thrones\" data-tag=\"game-of-thrones\">Game of Thrones<\/a>\u201d Emmy nominee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/features\/general\/lena-headey-accuses-harvey-weinstein-sexual-harassment-1201888216\/\" target=\"_blank\">accused Harvey Weinstein <\/a>of sexual harassment in 2017, claiming he made suggestive comments to her at the Venice Film Festival when they were promoting \u201cThe Brothers Grimm.\u201d Years later, Weinstein allegedly invited Headey to his hotel to show her a script.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWe walked to the lift and the energy shifted,\u201d Headey once explained of the encounter. \u201cMy whole body went into high alert. The lift was going up and I said to Harvey, \u2018I\u2019m not interested in anything other than work, please don\u2019t think I got in here with your any other reason, nothing is going to happen.\u2019 I don\u2019t know what possessed me to speak out at that moment, only that I had such a strong sense of \u2018don\u2019t come near me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSpeaking to The Telegraph, Headey said: \u201cThe weird protection that we offer predatory men in the business because of the disproportionate power they wield set against the need among vulnerable actresses to work to put food on the table to get the job \u2013 it makes me very angry. A job can be completely soured by one person who, for some reason, is allowed to get away with it. It was only when the\u00a0#MeToo movement\u00a0erupted [in 2017] that we realized \u2013 oh, this is everywhere\u2026 I think most young women I speak to now in this business are so savvy. The attitude today is, \u2018I\u2019m not fucing doing that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIt took awhile for Headey to learn that she could stand up for herself on film and television sets. She noted that when she started out as an actor \u201cthere was this rite of passage all young female actors had to go through, which usually involved snogging and falling in love, and having sex and showing your boobs. They\u2019d call them the ingenue parts, to make it sound nicer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cBut I just got on with it,\u201d Headey said. \u201cI didn\u2019t go to drama school so I would just arrive on a set and be, \u2018Oh my God, I\u2019ve got a job\u2019. And when it came to those moments, I don\u2019t think I even questioned that I should be safe. Instead I\u2019d go home and cry, or think, \u2018Oh, that felt weird and too familiar.\u2019 Now I look back and feel, \u2018Hmm, that was rough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d was infamous for his sex scenes and nudity, which often struck many critics as gratuitous. Cast member Gemma Whelan once said these scenes were \u201ca frenzies mess\u201d to shoot, while Emilia Clarke admitted to crying after filming certain sex scenes. \u201cThrones\u201d was filmed before intimacy coordinators became a standard job on productions. Headey was not an ingenue when she landed \u201cThrones,\u201d so she was able to stand up for herself more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cBy that point I\u2019d been through the wringer,\u201d the actor told<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/radio\/what-to-listen-to\/lena-headey-interview\" target=\"_blank\"> The Telegraph<\/a>. \u201cI could stand up for myself. I\u2019m not saying those actresses couldn\u2019t, but they were much younger and more vulnerable, and had far less experience of being in front of people and the camera and performing. Whereas I was of an age where I\u2019d just tit about and diffuse anything uncomfortable with idiocy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAnd yet, Headey found herself in the middle of backlash when she decided to use a body double in \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d Season 5 during her character\u2019s naked walk of shame. When it was revealed that a body double and some CGI was used for the nude scene, some \u201cThrones\u201d fans scorned her on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI was really shocked by the anger, by this idea that I\u2019d duped the audience,\u201d Headey said looking back at the outrage. \u201cBut by that point everyone knew [the cast], it was insane simply going anywhere, and I was with 3000 extras. Acting is a joy but it requires a lot of you. I wouldn\u2019t have been able to do the emotional part of the job; I\u2019d have been in full on defensive mode.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHeadey told <a class=\"\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ew.com\/article\/2016\/04\/18\/game-thrones-lena-headey?xid=entertainment-weekly_socialflow_twitter\">Entertainment Weekly<\/a> at the time that \u201csome people thought I was less of an actress because I didn\u2019t get my tits out. It was really a bit shocking. I\u2019ve done nudity. I\u2019m not averse to it. But I know I\u2019m a very emotional actor and I get really driven by that. In order to do my job, I allow myself to be really vulnerable. I don\u2019t know any other way to do my job. Things really affect me. And the thought of being naked for three days and trying to contain her in the way she would be I think I would feel very angry. I didn\u2019t want to be angry. I don\u2019t think Cersei would be angry. I did what I thought she would do, emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHead over to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/radio\/what-to-listen-to\/lena-headey-interview\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">The Telegraph\u2019s website<\/a> to read Headey\u2019s interview in its entirety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lena Headey gave a wide-ranging interview with The Telegraph and opened up on her experiences in Hollywood with nudity and predatory men. The \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d Emmy nominee accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment in 2017, claiming he made suggestive comments to her at the Venice Film Festival when they were promoting \u201cThe Brothers Grimm.\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/P103EX6V.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}