Sophie Turner brought her own motherhood experience to her titular role in Joan.
“If I hadn’t been a mother, I don’t know if I would have been able to bring the same energy that I did into it,” Turner, 28, told The Sunday Times in a profile published on Sunday, September 29. “It’s such a struggle being a single mother. Joan doesn’t go about it in the best way … but it is amazing to see her really fighting for her daughter. It’s also really important for kids to see just how hard parents work for them.”
Turner, who shares two daughters with ex-husband Joe Jonas, plays Joan Hannington in the ITV series about a young single mother as she leaves an abusive relationship and is forced to put her 4-year-old child into care.
Turner filmed Joan in Europe while daughters Willa, 4, and Delphine, 2, stayed with Jonas, 35, in the United States. (The now-exes were involved in a bitter custody dispute regarding their children’s primary residency.)
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“There’s so much shame that comes with motherhood,” Turner told the outlet. “You go to work, you’re shamed. If you don’t go to work, you’re shamed.”
The Game of Thrones alum felt particularly lonely during filming as a result, enlisting a friend to be her roommate.
“She ended up staying with me at mine because I didn’t want to be alone,” Turner recalled. “The crew really held me through it, and I didn’t ever come home alone at the end of the day.”
Turner further noted that the project “changed [her] quite a lot.”
“From utter desperation comes so much will and ambition. The series came around at a time in my life where I had to be ambitious and I had to have such strong will and fight against the forces,” Turner added. “She gave me a lot of strength. She also taught me how to do a good ring swap in a handbag.”
Starting in September 2023, Turner fought Jonas in court to allow her to move back to her hometown in England with Willa and Delphine. The Jonas Brothers singer, who hails from New Jersey, petitioned for the girls to remain stateside. In the end, Turner and Jonas agreed to share custody and allow their kids to travel between the two countries on an equal basis.
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Turner also felt a motherly bond with her onscreen daughter, but she doesn’t want her actual kids to follow in their acting footsteps just yet.
“I’d say to any parent if your child wants to get into the industry, wait until their frontal lobe has formed, which is [at age] 25,” Turner told The Times. “I would highly discourage them from getting into it before they can fully process what that means.”
Since her divorce was finalized earlier this month, Turner has moved on romantically with British aristocrat Peregrine “Perry” Pearson.
