The 32-year-old actress says online hostility surrounding the HBO series has become increasingly toxic, prompting her to step away from social media to protect her well-being.
Actress Olivia Cooke has revealed that she decided to leave social media because of what she describes as the “ugliness” within the House of the Dragon fan community, pointing to misogyny, racism and increasingly hostile reactions to the show’s characters.
Cooke, who plays Alicent Hightower in the HBO fantasy series, made the comments in a new interview with GQ Hype. The show is a prequel to the hugely popular Game of Thrones.
“I think some of the interpretations just catch fire, and they become something that bears no resemblance to what was shown on the screen at the time,” Cooke said.
“There’s a lot of ugliness to that fandom as well. It’s steeped in misogyny. There’s a lot of racism. I try to let it take up minimal mental real estate.”
The actress decided to step away from social media ahead of the show’s third season, which began airing in June. She said she realized that spending so much time on these platforms was negatively affecting her well-being.
“I was just like, I’m on this too much. It’s not nourishing,” she recalled.
Cooke also criticized what she sees as the growing commercialization of celebrity culture, arguing that acting and filmmaking should remain focused on creativity and artistic expression rather than online popularity and personal branding.
“I think the celebri-fied nature of being an actor has now snowballed into this monster,” she said. “And I just think we need to get off this train and realise that we make these TV shows and films, yes, for escapism, but also because it’s artful and creative and it’s not for followers or for a brand deal or to get free s***. Even though that is nice sometimes.”
Cooke has previously spoken about her decision to leave Instagram, explaining that the platform affected the way she viewed herself and her body.
In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, she described becoming frustrated with online content promoting extreme physical transformations and unrealistic appearance standards.
She said such material was “very navel-gazy” and could distort people’s perceptions of their bodies and themselves, adding that the same pressures had increasingly affected the entertainment industry.
Leaving social media, however, has not completely shielded Cooke from negative encounters with fans in public.
The Slow Horses actress said that people sometimes approach her for photographs before making insulting comments about Alicent Hightower.
“It can be quite vitriolic at times. I don’t want this to come across as ‘Woe is me’, because I’m very grateful for the job, but to field insults when you’re just walking down the street …” she said.
“They want a picture with you, then afterwards, they’ll say, ‘I fing hate your character, by the way,’ or, ‘Your character’s a c.’”
Cooke said she usually responds with humor, telling fans that they can delete the photograph if they dislike her character so much.
“I don’t know what you can do. I just try and take it in my stride,” she added.
