Rose Leslie's bumpy marriage to Games of Thrones' hunk she helped through rehab

18 December 2023 , 19:55

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Rose Leslie's bumpy marriage to Games of Thrones' hunk she helped through rehab

Actor Rose Leslie is loved up in real life with her former co-star - but their relationship hasn't always been smooth sailing.

The Scottish actress is back on our screens tonight as the second series of BBC's Vigil continues. The action has shifted from the Navy to the RAF, with leading actor Rose reprising her role as DCI Kirsten Longacre, who has a beautiful love story with DCI Amy Silva.

The 36-year-old star has become a familiar face on our screens, best known for her roles as Gwen Dawson in Downton Abbey and Ygritte in Game of Thrones. But what do we know about her romantic life off-screen? Here, we take a look at her relationship with Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in GOT.

Rose admitted it was 'very easy to fall in love' with Kit on the set of Game of Thrones (WireImage)

Co-stars Rose and Kit fell in love after meeting on the hit HBO show in 2011 and their on-screen chemistry developed away from cameras. Their initial romance reportedly dried up in 2013, but a year later, the couple was spotted together which fanned the flames of a rekindled romance. In 2016, they finally let the world in on their secret, posing together on the red carpet.

In 2016, Rose told Vogue Italia: "If you're already attracted to someone, and then they play your love interest in the show, it becomes very easy to fall in love." In summer 2017, Kit proposed to Rose and demanded the GOT producers made time for all the cast to attend their wedding.

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Kit and Rose played Jon Snow and Ygritte in GOT and secretly developed a relationship away from cameras (Home Box Office Inc.)

Speaking on the Jonathan Ross Show, Kit explained how he broke the news: "I said, 'I'm getting married and it's your fault actually. I was like, 'You need to factor in a Game Of Thrones wedding by the way. They have all got to be there so the whole thing has got to shut down!'"

The pair then bought a home together in the Suffolk countryside. "It's incredibly old," Rose told Make Magazine. "We have a thatched roof, which currently has an enormous hornet's nest in it. I do love to think about the house and all the people who have lived there. Were they happy, how did they live?"

Rose confirmed they were starting a family together in 2020 and their first child, a baby boy, was spotted in February 2021. The couple are yet to reveal his name. Then earlier this year, they welcomed their second child together, a baby girl whose name is also unknown.

Speaking about parenthood on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in February, Kit said: "You know with the first baby, you're like, walking on clouds and dancing through fields and daisies for nine months? Well, the man is anyway. This time, the reality check comes much shorter and you get practical, like, real quick."

The couple share two young children together and live in Suffolk (Getty Images)

They tied the knot in 2017 and had the whole GOT cast at their wedding (SplashNews.com)

Kit previously opened up about life as a father, telling People magazine: "Every day I wake up and look after this little human and now we're part of a unit together. You are now a unit, the three of you. That's a whole new dynamic you need to find, and pretty much find every day as he grows and changes, and how does that change you? It's a beautiful thing, it really is."

Their domestic bliss comes after a rocky patch back in May 2019 when Kit is said to have checked into a rehabilitation facility to get support and treatment for stress and alcohol abuse ahead of GOT filming ending. PageSix reported that the actor underwent "psychological coaching, practicing mindful meditation and cognitive behavioural therapy to combat stress and deal with negative emotions at the facility, which costs over $120,000 (£94,000) a month."

The actor kept his drink battle mostly to himself throughout filming, but as filming for the hit show came to an end, Kit's anxiety about his performance plagued him. "My darkest period was when the show seemed to become so much about Jon, when he died and came back," he previously told Variety.

"I really didn't like the focus of the whole show coming onto Jon - even though it was invalidating my problem about being the weak link because things were about Jon." Kit said Jon's fake death came as he went through something of a life crisis, which led him to seek therapy. "It wasn't a very good time in my life - I felt I had to feel that I was the most fortunate person in the world, when actually, I felt very vulnerable," he said.

And while Rose supported him through rehab, she has admitted she won't be taking the weight of Kit's past struggles. She explained to Harper's Bazaar: "I've learnt a lot about addiction and it's something Kit is forever going to be aware of, but it's on him whether he chooses to drink again. No amount of nannying is going to be able to stop him from doing what he decides to do... I don't choose to put that pressure on myself. The responsibility of his behaviour is on him. It's not on me to guard him from it."

Nia Dalton