‘Be gone, evil spirit’: The very dark reason Skins’ Hannah Murray vanished from Hollywood

Actress Hannah Murray has been very honest about her dark past, which came after she starred in a number of major TV shows and films.

Besides a few minor cameos, Hannah Murray’s first massive acting gig was Skins. Between 2007 and 2008, she played Cassie Ainsworth, returning to the role in 2013 for the show’s final season. Her total episode count came in at 19 episodes.

Credit: E4

But Skins wasn’t Hannah’s only claim to fame. She also played a substantial part in Game of Thrones, depicting wildling girl Gilly for a total of 31 episodes.

Other projects of Hannah’s included Detroit, Dark Shadows, and Lily & Kat, but she’s since stepped back from acting for a pretty dark reason. It’s not something you hear about every day.

Skins actress Hannah Murray joined a cult?!

Credit: HBO

After successful roles in both Skins and Game of Thrones, you’d think that Hannah Murray would be set for life with role after role. That might have been the case in any other situation, but a series of dark events pushed her to retire from showbiz entirely.

Whilst filming the historical drama Detroit in 2017, Hannah met an energy healer who was part of what she called “the organisation.”

Promised “wisdom and specialness” to the cost of thousands, Hannah ended up joining a wellness cult in London. She has never named the group.

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“I wanted to go further and further, as far as you could go,” she told The Guardian, revealing how she would spend thousands on trying to get higher up in the organisation.

Describing manic episodes in painful detail, Hannah recalled fully buying into what the cult was selling. She was hallucinating, hearing the leader’s voice in her head, and felt “deliriously happy” despite the incredibly dark situation.

The chaos and mania culminated in a pounding headache that felt like she was “giving birth through my skull”, at which point she was locked in a toilet cubicle with the cult chanting “Be gone, evil spirit in Hannah” around her.

Hannah was eventually rushed to the hospital and detained for 28 days under the Mental Health Act. She was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

“I understand I am in hospital, that I have been sectioned. But I know really I am still the saviour of the universe,” she wrote in her memoir.

Hannah Murray has since retired from acting, dedicating her time to mental health work as she lives a quiet life.

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Featured image credit: e4