Hannah Murrayknown for his roleGame of Thrones‘, has opened up about one of the most difficult periods of her life, revealing that she took part in an exploitative wellness cult that ultimately led to a psychotic episode long enough to land her in a mental health unit for 28 days. The 36-year-old actor has detailed the experience in his new memoir ‘The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness’.In a recent interview with The Guardian, Murray spoke candidly about the experience and reflected on the lack of critical thinking around wellness culture. “There is not enough critical thinking about welfare,” he said. “It’s easy to say, ‘Well, that would never happen to me,’ but when we start saying that, we’re doing ourselves a disservice, because you don’t know.”
How Hannah Murray got into the cult of wellness
Murray explains that his involvement began when he met an energy healer called Grace on the set of the 2017 film ‘Detroit’. The film’s violent and dark subject matter left her shaken, and she quickly opened up to Grace. What began as a $150 healing session soon turned into promises to activate her “spiritual DNA” using what Grace described as “powerful, ancient tools.”Since Murray had been introduced to Grace by someone on set, he didn’t think to question her legitimacy. She was gradually led into a series of classes that provided answers to her self-healing journey, albeit consistently at a financial cost.“The pyramid was structured to exploit everyone who tried to climb it,” he wrote in his memoir. “One person sat on top, except for one man.” Murray refers to this man as Steve, describing him as magnetic and powerful in a way he had never encountered before. “It gave me power like no one I’ve ever known. Magical power,” he recalled. “I knew I was in front of a magician.”
Signs of exploitation and growing unrest
As she became more involved, Murray said she began to notice signs of sexual exploitation within the organization. “My experience felt very erotic, without anything explicitly physical happening,” she told the outlet. “There was just this charge of energy in the room.”When she raised concerns that the institution might be a sex cult with one of its female teachers, she was told Steve was “very good at breaking your ego”.
The psychotic episode that led to hospitalization
During a five-day course in London Murray’s behavior became very erratic. She began talking at what she described as “a million miles a second”, experienced hallucinations and delusions that Steve loved her and intended to marry her.At her lowest point, Murray recalled in agony locking herself in a bathroom while teachers on the other side of the door shouted, “Go away, you evil spirit Hannah.” When help was finally called, he was pinned to the ground and taken to hospital, detained for 28 days under the Mental Health Act.
Hannah Murray’s diagnosis and why she chose to speak out
After hospitalization, Murray was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She said the diagnosis brought unexpected clarity. “Everything made a lot more sense,” he recalled.She has since spoken out about the stigma surrounding severe mental health experiences, noting that public conversations tend to focus only on anxiety and depression while leaving out those who have been sectioned. “I thought it was really important to say, ‘I went through this.’ A lot of people go through this. It doesn’t mean they’re bad or lost forever,” she said.Murray’s book ‘The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness’ is available now.
