Olivia Cooke reveals she's been forced to step away from acting for six months after suffering 'burnout' and battling health issues

Olivia Cooke has revealed she took a six-month break from acting earlier this year after feeling completely 'burnt out'. The House Of The Dragon actress, 32, contracted shingles at the end of last year in New York after filming back-to-back projects and returned to her home in London to seek treatment. Olivia said during a two-month period she struggled to do small talk with anyone as she battled terrible migraines, rashes and painful welts from the injections that were treating the painful viral infection. 'I feel like the past two years, I’ve been, like, jobs, jobs, jobs, and I got really burnt out, your body has a way of flooring you to make sure that you do actually lie down,' Olivia told GQ. Olivia said she spent her time with her partner Ralph Davis in their Victorian townhouse in east London. She said: 'I was like a real housewife, like, horribly, but I enjoyed it. I was cooking different meals every day and sorting my cupboards out.' Olivia Cooke has revealed she took a six-month break from acting earlier this year after feeling completely 'burnt out' The actress, 32, contracted shingles at the end of last year in New York after filming back-to-back projects and returned to her home in London to seek treatmentOlivia also deactivated her social media during this time as she said: 'It’s not nourishing, I think the celebrified nature of being an actor has now snowballed into this monster.'She added she didn't want to be caught up in the storm of social media, chasing followers or getting brand deals. She has since reactivated her Instagram in October but has changed her approach as to how she uses it. Despite her six-month hiatus, Olivia's acting career shows no signs of slowing down. Olivia 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. Despite her six-month hiatus, Olivia's acting career shows no signs of slowing down. She returned to Apple TV+'s spy drama Slow Horses as MI5 agent Sid Baker Olivia stars in HBO's highly acclaimed House Of The Dragon series as Queen Alicent Hightower Olivia posed in a mustard checked coat for the covershoot What is Shingles? Shingles is a painful viral infection caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (the same virus that causes chickenpox). Early symptoms: Tingling, burning, itching, or sharp pain on one side of the body or face, sometimes accompanied by a headache, fever, or fatigue.Rash development: A red, rash appears a few days later, turning into fluid-filled blisters. Healing: The blisters break, dry out, and crust over within 7 to 10 days, and usually clear completely within 2 to 4 weeks 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, 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.'