Sophie Turner turns 30 next month, and for her birthday, she wants nothing more than “some peace”.
The British actress was 13 when she was cast in Game of Thrones, the juggernaut that would dominate global television for nearly a decade. But the scrutiny that followed her into adulthood intensified in September 2023, when her split from ex-husband Joe Jonas prompted wild and unfounded speculation on her fitness to parent their two children. The shame and guilt from that period, Turner has said in a new interview, still lingers.
Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner split in September 2023 after four years of marriage. In the weeks that followed, Turner was plagued by accusations that she “likes to party” and Jonas “likes to stay home”, which she later disputed.Credit: Getty
“It’s a total fishbowl. And people take so much as fact these days,” Turner said in a new cover interview for Net-A-Porter’s digital magazine Porter.
“You feel like you’re gagged because silence is always the way to let something die out. But it means that you can’t stand up for yourself ever, so there’s a feeling of helplessness and shame.”
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Turner and Jonas first met in 2016, when the then-27-year-old Jonas Brothers frontman direct messaged Turner, then 20, on Instagram.
They eloped in Las Vegas in May 2019, with a traditional wedding held in Paris the following month. By July 2022, they had welcomed two daughters. In August 2023, Jonas gave Turner, who was dancing in the crowd, a shoutout during the opening show of the Jonas Brothers’ tour in New York City.
“If you’re going through a tough time, they reach out to you, they’ve got your back no matter what. That person is here with me tonight, Sophie,” Jonas said from Yankee Stadium’s stage before singing Hesitate, a song he previously called a “love letter” to Turner.
Less than a month later, Jonas had filed for divorce. In legal documents obtained by USA Today, Jonas claimed his marriage to Turner was “irretrievably broken”. One day after that, the former couple released a joint statement on Instagram, notifying their combined following of more than 26 million that they had “mutually” and “amicably” decided to end their marriage.