House of the Dragon is not the first major project for Olivia Cooke, but it is at a time when she has made progress regarding her mental health. During the mid to late-2010s, when her career was taking off with projects like Bates Motel, she was struggling emotionally and mentally. In an interview with the Guardian, she opened up about this difficult time.
Around 2014, Olivia Cooke started working consistently, leading up to House of the Dragon being her latest major project. She starred in Ouija, Thoroughbreds, Bates Motel, Ready Player One, and Sound of Metal. Between constant auditioning and loneliness from being far from home as British talent filming in Vancouver, she was stuck in an apartment on her lonesome with being under the legal drinking age, so she couldn’t go out to socialize.
“I’m so grateful for that job, but I had a really tough time on it. The way the schedule worked, we all had different storylines, so a lot of my time was spent in this apartment in Vancouver, working once every two weeks.”
House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke opens up about her mental health issues
While she found she was “very good at hiding it,” the mental toll of constantly working without time for herself or to socialize was significant. She had what she described as a “full mental breakdown” at one point when she was 22. Now turning 29 this December, she is going out, traveling with friends, and finding space to have a good time.
While looking at her rise to success and personal struggles, House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke has one strength she can rely on, which is her ability to advocate for herself. She had always “been quite protective” of herself while knowing her “limits.” If she is working with someone who is causing any issues, she won’t be afraid to “speak up.”
Olivia Cooke came in about halfway through the debut season of House of the Dragon when the big time jump pushed the timeline forward a decade. Now, her character as Queen Alicent Hightower is in the midst of drama, dragons, and power shifts while she tries to maintain her status as queen and her family alive from enemies that lurk around every corner.