Nathalie Emmanuel: I struggled with how my body looks but now I’m comfortable

Struggled: Nathalie Emmanuel has learnt to be comfortable with her body
David Churchill6 April 2017
The Weekender

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There is no absence of nudity in Game Of Thrones — but star Nathalie Emmanuel says it has taken her years to feel comfortable with her body.

The actress, 28, who plays the slave-turned-adviser Missandei in HBO’s hit fantasy show, said she felt proud of her naked scene in the series but struggled with the way her body looked during her teens and early twenties.

She said: “There’s that thing where you just compare yourself to every advert or every poster and think, ‘Wait, is that how I should look?’ and I just didn’t look like that.

“I’ve always had to be positive with my thoughts and be like, ‘You know what, how you are and what you are is fine. Even if you gained however much weight, you’re still fine’.

Comfortable: Nathalie Emmanuel was proud of her naked scenes 

“I’m not saying that I’ve never had unhealthy or negative thoughts with regards to my body, of course I have, but you also have to be proactive with yourself mentally.

"It’s not something that had a huge hold on me, but to say I didn’t have certain insecurities or was worried about that, that would be untrue. But for a few years now I’ve been like, ‘I look healthy, I look after myself’.

“There’s this real pressure and ideas that are put on women on how to be and how to look and how to act.”

Game of Thrones: Emilia Clarke as Daenerys and Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
Home Box Office

She spoke to the Standard at the launch of Speedo’s Make 1K Wet fitness campaign, designed to encourage more people to swim as part of their regime. She said: “You don’t realise until you’re doing it how much of a full-body workout it is.”

The actress, who was born in Southend, had her big break as a teenager playing Sasha Valentine in Hollyoaks before winning her Thrones role as a slave who becomes an adviser to Emilia Clarke’s Queen Daenerys Targaryen.

In series four, she stripped off for a scene in which army commander Grey Worm sees her bathing in a pool. It is the first time the two characters’ romantic feelings for each other are revealed.

Emmanuel said: “I’m not ashamed of my body in any way, it’s just a body, I have breasts like every woman and everything else that comes with my body is just my body.

Game of Thrones: Season 6

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"For me the shock of it isn’t really there. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to get my kit off for any part that requires it, it has to feel appropriate.

“I feel like it was relevant to the storyline [in Thrones]. Part of this storyline we were developing, there was something very sweet about it.

"I didn’t feel in any way exploited, it was something that I actually felt really proud of when I watched it.”

Emmanuel, who began her career in theatre in the late Nineties in West End roles including Nala in The Lion King, said she would like to return to the stage.

She said: “I haven’t done it since I was a kid so to do some theatre would be amazing. It’s definitely something I’ve spoken about with my agent.”

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