Gemma Whelan, renowned for her role as Yara Greyjoy in 'Game of Thrones', is set to reprise her role in the third season of ITV's 'The Tower'. Before soaring to fame on screen, the actress started her journey in comedy as the quirky character Chastity Butterworth.
The Leeds-born star, now 43, boasts a plethora of impressive credits including The End of the F***ing World', 'Gentleman Jack', and 'DI Ray'.
Whelan has candidly spoken about her teenage years battling anorexia which led to a hospitalisation. Recovering from this eating disorder, she cites as her most significant achievement, revealing how it profoundly impacted her life choices and career.
In an intimate discussion with The Times, Gemma shared: "It's part of my life. If it can help one or two people maybe feel it's not hopeless and you can get better, then yeah, I'll share it."
Her openness extends to discussing her past struggles; she reflects, "I am not so private I wouldn't talk about that. Because it really shaped me. It formed so much of my life and the way I live my life and my personality and my approach to things."
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On the home front, Gemma Whelan resides in London with her husband, Gerry Howell, who is both a comedian and an actor.
Howell himself garnered acclaim when he received the Best Individual Comedy Show Award at the Buxton Fringe Festival in 2010 for his show 'The Fantastic Reality of Frederick Goodge'.
The couple are parents to two children. Gemma once mentioned how back in 2018, she juggled her role of motherhood to their daughter Frances, then six months old, while simultaneously filming multiple shows.
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She revealed to the Belfast Telegraph: "It was fine. It sounds much scarier than it actually is, popping off to feed your baby now and again, as long as everyone's willing to allow that, which invariably they have been."
"I think Claire Foy did a lot for it (working mums on set), Sally Phillips, who was on this film, she took her babies to work with her, a lot of mums do. So the more we do it, the more normal it can become."
Her little bundle of joy, son Freddie, arrived in summer 2021. By 2023, she was frank about the challenges of balancing her acting career with the demands of motherhood.
Chatting with OK!, she confessed that she's not had a chance to flick through the Kate London novels tied to The Tower series due to her packed schedule tending to her two tots.
Elucidating on priorities, she remarked: "I decided I've got two children, a very young baby particularly, and I thought my priority has to be to learn my lines."
Believing writer Patrick Harbinson delivered a gem, she added: "I think [writer Patrick Harbinson] has written such a clear version of our version, that I like to sort of play that and try not to muddy it's my excuse for not reading the books and having a tiny baby!".
