She found fame difficult to deal with, tellingEntertainment Weeklythat she often found herself the target of trolls online.
“It’s hard.
“There isn’t a guide to doing it right.”
“This is why people go insane; I get it now.”
However, she remained part of Williams' life.
Nowadays, though, Williams has come to appreciate her mother.
And in 2016, Williams brought her mother as her date to the Emmys.
When Williams and her mother talk about those early years, they find the experience still affects them.
“It’s like, incredibly painful,” Williams told"The Diary of a CEO"podcast.
“I think there’s so much pain … “Ever since I can remember, like, I’ve really struggled sleeping,” she said.
One day, noticing that Williams seemed unwell, a teacher asked if she’d eaten breakfast.
Learning she had not, the teacher pressed for more details.
“I still wanted to fight, and say, ‘No!’
Like, ‘These things aren’t bad!'”
Eventually, Williams came to realize that she had been manipulated by her father into distrusting her mother.
“I was like, indoctrinated in a way,” she said.
“I was in a child cult against my mother.”
Still, she struggled with that decision thanks to years of being conditioned.
As a result, Williams has had to figure out how she feels about her dad.
Like, your own children.”
In addition to keeping Williams looking young, Arya also spends a long while disguised as a boy.
More specifically, Williams resented her feminine figure, which had to be hidden to play Arya.
“That just felt horrible …
I felt kind of a bit ashamed for a while.”
It’s only now that the show has ended that Williams has been able to embrace her natural figure.
Though she had friends, Williams found that many of the other students distrusted her.
Ultimately, Williams decided to leave school and attend college at 16.
She’s such a b****,'” Williams insisted.
“it’s possible for you to’t win.
You just can’t win.”
In an interview withThe Guardian, Williams said the bullying had lasting effects.
“Having this awful experience made me really bitter about life and people,” she said.
“People let you down and they hurt you.”
“They do [see it],” she said.
“And it will affect them for a really long time.”
As a result, Williams said she has struggled with her mental health.
“It’s really bizarre the way that it starts to consume you.”
Eventually, Williams confessed, “I’d tell myself every day that I hated myself.”
In addition to her feelings of sadness, Williams has also opened up about her experience with anxiety.
She asked for help, and thankfully the adults around her were supportive.
Williams did, eventually, beginexperimenting with substance use.
On the"The Diary of a CEO"podcast, Williams opened up further on the topic.
“I don’t want to undermine it,” she said.
“I took a lot of party drugs, and like, partied.
I was in a position where, like, I could buy more.”
Thankfully, Williams felt that she was eventually able to stop when she wanted to.
“It was like, definitely something that I was like …
I need to stop doing this if I want to feel happiness,” she explained.
Nowadays, Williams doesn’t consider herself sober, but she doesn’t drink very often.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available.
Visit theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration websiteor contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
