Game of Thrones-famed Kit Harington is suddenly back at the center of Hollywood’s attention with major projects including HBO’s Harry Potter reboot.
But the actor’s recent candid comments about sobriety have also drawn renewed attention to a much messier chapter of his past: an old controversy involving some serious allegations about his marriage to co-star Rose Leslie.
One X user summed up the renewed debate bluntly, writing, “Oh my God, I had no idea about this, what a filthy man, for f**k’s sake, poor Rose… She should’ve told him to go to hell.”
Kit Harington is entering a new career phase after years of working outside the massive spotlight of Game of Thrones
After Game of Thrones ended in 2019, rather than immediately jumping from one massive franchise into another, Harington took on a mixture of smaller screen projects and theater work while keeping a lower profile.
His more recent slate, however, has put him firmly back in the mainstream spotlight.
He starred alongside Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan in The Family Plan 2, reunited with Game of Thrones co-star Sophie Turner in the gothic horror film The Dreadful, and is also set to star opposite Naomi Scott in Eternal Return.
Kit has also been announced as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in Season 2 of HBO’s Harry Potter reboot after Nicholas Hoult exited the role because of scheduling conflicts.
However, Harington’s casting has generated negative attention, particularly as the reboot has faced criticism and boycott calls from some fans over author J.K. Rowling’s public views on transgender issues.
Kit’s recent candid sobriety confession has reignited scrutiny of his long-disputed 2018 cheating allegations
But as a lifelong fan of the franchise, Kit made a personal confession about his struggles with drinking and how the books have played a major role in his sobriety journey, despite the controversy surrounding the reboot.
During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he shared, “My brain is incredibly busy, especially at night, and I’ve always found going to bed very difficult, and my brain doesn’t turn off.”
“When I got sober, that got especially bad. So I started listening to Harry Potter audiobooks, and now they’re the thing I listen to every night.”
But renewed attention to his past has also prompted some people to dig back through old stories about the actor, including a controversial allegation that first emerged shortly after his wedding.
Just months after marrying co-star Rose Leslie, Harington was reportedly accused of having an affair by a Russian model
Harington and Rose Leslie first met while filming Game of Thrones, where they played the doomed lovers Jon Snow and Ygritte.
Their on-screen romance eventually became a real-life relationship, although the pair largely kept their private lives out of the spotlight.
After dating for several years, the couple announced their engagement in 2017 before tying the knot on June 23, 2018, in Scotland.
Just months later, in November 2018, Russian model Olga Vlasova claimed that she had been involved in a month-long affair with Kit.
She alleged they met in Luxembourg and that their relationship overlapped with his engagement and marriage to Leslie.
Vlasova also allegedly circulated photographs that she claimed showed Harington lying unclothed on a bed, asleep beside a laptop.
The 39-year-old star has repeatedly pushed back against the affair allegations, firmly denying the claims
Within hours of the alleged image gaining traction online, the actor’s representative responded with a firm denial.
They told E! News at the time, “The allegations in this story are completely false. He’s never even been to Luxembourg nor has he ever met Olga Vlasova.”
Following the controversy, Kit and Rose continued to keep their family life largely private.
They welcomed their first child, a son, in 2021, followed by their second child, a daughter, in 2023.
The renewed discussion around the cheating allegations is closely tied to what Harington has since revealed about the period surrounding the end of Game of Thrones.
After the show concluded, he entered treatment in 2019 for al**hol a**iction.
That has prompted some people online to look back at the 2018 photographs and speculate about whether the man pictured asleep could have been intoxicated.
However, no verified evidence confirms the affair allegations, nor has it been established that the photograph is authentic.
“Da*n. Literally everyone cheats. I have to stop being so naive… Now I don’t just hate Jon Snow but the actor too,” fumed one netizen
Follow Us
