Oli from social media
ANI | Updated:Nov 10, 2026 09:43IST
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Los Angeles [US], November 10 (ANI): Actor Olivia Cooke has been consciously distancing herself from social media.
In an interview with GQ, Cooke, who portrays the controversial Queen Alicent Hightower in HBO’s House of the Dragon, recently revealed that she took a break from social media ahead of the show’s third season, citing the increasingly toxic behaviour within the fandom, Variety reported.
“I think some of those interpretations just catch fire, and they become something that bears no resemblance to what was shown on the screen at the time,” said Cooke on the subject of the fanbases’ theories and opinions (which include observations about Cooke herself as well as her relationship with the show’s directors).
The uber-passionate fanbase was, in part, why she went offline and deactivated her Instagram ahead of Season 3 dropping in June, she revealed.
Cooke pointed out that the show’s fandom can be deeply problematic, pointing to the prevalence of misogyny and racism
“There’s a lot of ugliness to that fandom as well. It’s steeped in misogyny. There’s a lot of racism. I try to let it take up minimal mental real estate.”
While viewers of the prequel series are well-acquainted with the taboo at this point, Season 3 saw Cooke’s Hightower in a number of contentious storylines, including sharing a kiss with her son that results in an incestuous daydream scene later on.
On her social media break, Cooke noted that it got to a place where she felt it was “not nourishing.”
“I think the celebri-fied nature of being an actor has now snowballed into this monster. And I just think we need to get off this train and realize that we make these TV shows and films, yes, for escapism, but also because it’s artful and it’s creative and it’s not for followers or for a brand deal or to get free shit. Even though that is nice sometimes.” (ANI)
