Kit Harington "struggled" with being in the public eye.
Kit Harington
The 'Game of Thrones' actor - who is best known for playing Jon Snow in the HBO fantasy drama series - admits it was initially "exciting" being involved in a hugely successful show but the attention gradually became "hard" to deal with, and he's only more comfortable now because he's aware the programme will come to an end next year.
He said: "I think it was -- I take it season by season -- [the show] really took off in season 2 or 3, and it was so exciting, this show really getting this massive amount of global attention towards it.
"I struggled with that around season 5.
"I suddenly found it quite hard, its not stopping. The initial excitement of it wore off.
"I deal with a lot better now. I think I deal with it better because I can see the end."
And the 30-year-old hunk - who is in a relationship with his former co-star Rose Leslie - admitted one of the reasons why he's more accepting is his position is he's very thankful for the "amazing" opportunities it allows him and he wants to enjoy them while he can.
He added in an interview with Time magazine: "I have to be honest with myself: I don't know the next time I'll ever be involved in something like this. I've taken for granted the idea that I can go to the SAG Awards and the Emmys and the Golden Globes each year.
"When is the next time you will enter this hallowed rooms? And that's amazing, that I get to take that for granted.
"The enjoyment of it, the desperate trying to enjoy it while it's here, is helping with the inevitable slight pressure of it."
While the show doesn't come to an end until after its eighth season, Kit has spent much of filming the upcoming seventh season saying a "quiet goodbye" because he knows things will happen too quickly to process the end properly when it really comes around.
He said: "I sound like someone's dying, but it does feel like someone's dying. We won't have time to say goodbye to it, emotionally.
"For all of us, it's been an emotional thing in our lives -
it's been all of my twenties.
"I'm trying to say a quiet goodbye to it this year, so next year I can just do my job and get the f**k out."
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