Olivia Cooke hits out at 'misogyny and racism' in the House of the Dragon fanbase and says it's made her quit social media

Olivia Cooke deactivated her social media accounts due to 'ugliness' in the House of the Dragon fanbase after seeing 'misogynistic and racist' comments.The actress, 32, plays Alicent Hightower in HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series and has an uneasy relationship with the show's passionate fanbase.Olivia quit social media before the third season of House of the Dragon started airing in June because she was finding it detrimental to her wellbeing. Olivia told GQ: '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.'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 Girlfriend star recalled: 'I was just like, I'm on this too much. It's not nourishing. Olivia Cooke deactivated her social media accounts due to 'ugliness' in the House of the Dragon fanbase after seeing 'misogynistic and racist' comments'I think the celebri-fied nature of being an actor has now snowballed into this monster. 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.'Olivia previously described how she quit Instagram because she doesn't like the way it 'distorts your mental image of your body and your self'.She told The Guardian newspaper earlier this year: 'I was sick of seeing 21-year-old looksmaxxers being like: 'If you follow a program, this is what you can do', and it's a side-by-side picture of him at 14, going through puberty, and him now, saying, 'Look at the transformation.''It's a lot. It's very navel-gazy, and it distorts your mental image of your body and your self. And I think that has trickled into our industry, as well.'Stepping away from social media hasn't helped Olivia escape criticism completely, as she often receives 'vitriolic' comments about her character when she is stopped for pictures by House of the Dragon fans.She said: '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 …'They want a picture with you, then afterwards, they'll say, 'I f****** hate your character, by the way,' or, 'Your character's a ****'.'I sort of laugh and say, 'Well, you can delete that picture.''I don't know what you can do. I just try and take it in my stride.' The actress, 32, plays Alicent Hightower in HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series and has an uneasy relationship with the show's passionate fanbaseOlivia stars in HBO's highly acclaimed House Of The Dragon series as Queen Alicent Hightower.The actress took over from Emily Carey in 2022 to accommodate the ten-year time jump in the story.She also returned to Apple TV's spy drama Slow Horses as MI5 agent Sid Baker in season six after being presumed dead since series one. Last December, Olivia spoke about the mental health scars she has suffered during her career including a mental breakdown at 22 and body image struggles. She said her toughest time was during her early twenties, when she had a mental breakdown after moving to the US to pursue career opportunities.Speaking to The Sunday Times about how she 'suffered in silence for years', Olivia said that the initial phase was: 'Panic attacks every day for three weeks.' This was followed by OCD and intrusive thoughts, which lasted for three more years, of which she said: 'I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It was like you're being tortured from within.'More recently, Olivia said she has dealt with watching 'the endlessly shrinking bodies' in the acting industry and the wider world. Olivia posed in a mustard checked coat for the cover shoot for GQOlivia, who starred in The Girlfriend, said that she felt 'insecure' during the sex scenes off the back of a global Ozempic craze. The actress, who plays Cherry in the series, worked on her raciest role to date, which sees her playing a scheming social climber who abandons both her principles and her clothes as she seduces a naive trust fund heir, much to the chagrin of his mother. Discussing her intimate scenes in the Prime Video series, she said: 'It's so hard not to feel insecure when only yourself and your partner and your doctor see you like that.'Olivia revealed that she was led to believe one of these shoots would be first thing so she skipped breakfast, only to be left feeling like she was going to faint. Her answer to this has been to delete Instagram while on location in Budapest filming Brides, which she admitted has so far been liberating.She said: 'To not be inundated with endlessly shrinking bodies has been a relief. I don't think I've ever navel-gazed that hard about my own body until now. Not to blame this on the patriarchy, but it does just feel like another way to suppress women [and] make them even more anxious and scared about just being in a bigger body.'