Sophie Turner says being a single mother is ‘such a struggle’

The British actress, 28, portrays notorious jewel thief Joan Hannington in the new ITV drama Joan, which follows her multifaceted life in the 1980s as a criminal and mother trying to get her daughter back from social services.

During filming for the series, Turner and pop star Joe Jonas announced they were splitting after four years of marriage.

It was reported earlier this month that they had finalised their divorce, bringing an end to a split that briefly became acrimonious.

Turner told the Sunday Times Culture magazine that she does not know if she could have brought the “same energy” to the role of Hannington if she was not a mother.

She said: “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.”

The actress, who rose to fame as a teenager playing Sansa Stark in HBO’s hit fantasy series Game Of Thrones, also reflected on the judgment mothers face.

“There’s so much shame that comes with motherhood”, she said.

“You go to work, you’re shamed. If you don’t go to work, you’re shamed.”

Turner and Jonas, who have two daughters, tied the knot in May 2019 in Las Vegas following the Billboard Music Awards.

According to papers obtained by the Associated Press news agency, Jonas filed for divorce in Florida’s Miami-Dade County Court citing the marriage being “irretrievably broken”.

Turner also sued Jonas to get hold of their children’s passports, but later reportedly reached a temporary custody agreement.

During a stint when her children were apart from her while she was filming, a member of the crew who had become a friend stayed with her.

“She ended up staying with me at mine, because I didn’t want to be alone,” she said.

“The crew really held me through it, and I didn’t ever come home alone at the end of the day.”

The six-part series was written by Anna Symon from Hannington’s memoirs and the thief was consulted during the writing process.

Nicknamed The Godmother, Hannington was one of Britain’s most notorious criminals who got away with millions of pounds in diamonds.

Turner said portraying Hannington changed her “quite a lot” as a person.

She added: “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.

“She gave me a lot of strength.”

Turner, who is from Northampton, also starred as Jean Grey in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse and 2019’s Dark Phoenix.

Arizona-born Jonas came to fame with brothers Nick and Kevin in the band The Jonas Brothers which started in 2005, and a subsequent Disney Channel series.

Joan episode one is out on ITV1 on Sunday.