- In an interview with Harpers Bazaar, Sophie Turner talked about her marriage to Joe Jonas and her life in the US.
- The “Game of Thrones” actor said he often felt homesick for the US and struggled with American politics.
- More Americans have considered leaving the US in an uncertain political climate.
Sophie Turner said she struggled with American politics when she was married to Joe Jonas and living in the US.
In an interview with Harpers Bazaar published on Wednesday, the British actress talked about the years she spent in the US. After marrying Jonas, Turner moved to LA in 2019 and they moved to Miami in 2021. She said she felt homesick everywhere they went. “Every city we ended up in, the first thing I would do was find a British store and stock up on chocolate for a month,” she told Harpers Bazaar.
However, Turner, 28, had a harder time dealing with America’s politics. “Gun violence, Roe v. Wade being overturned … Everything just piled up,” she said.
After the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, where a teenage gunman fatally shot 19 children and two teachers, Turner said she “knew it was time to get the hell out of there.”
In May, she said in an interview with British Vogue that at the time, she felt like a “little bird trapped in a gilded cage” living in the US.
“I couldn’t fathom being the mother of one of those children, knowing that this was something your country could fix, that they would rather have the right to guns than give children the right to life, she said.
“Meanwhile, women in the U.S. are being disenfranchised left, right and center. It all contributed to this feeling that I have to get out, I have to get out.”
The Game of Thrones actor and Jonas announced their plans to divorce last year. They have two daughters, Willa, 4, and Delphine, 2.
Turner, who now lives in West London, told Harpers Bazaar that she is “so happy to be back”.
“It felt like my life was on pause until I got back to England,” she said.
A representative for Turner did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
When politics becomes a reason to leave
Politics is also weighing heavily on many Americans; The Pew Research Center surveyed 8,480 American adults in July 2023 and found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say they always or often feel “exhausted” when thinking about politics.
In March, BI reported that the political outlook amid upcoming elections has also prompted some to consider leaving the country.
Fear of gun violence has driven others to look elsewhere.
In September, Genie Doi, a lawyer, told BI that a shooting near her son’s daycare had prompted her to move her family from California to Japan in 2022.
“Since we’ve moved, for almost the last two years, gun violence in the U.S. has continued. It just keeps happening,” she said. “So I’m grateful to be able to get my kids out of that environment.”
Similarly, Chris Ouellet, who lived in Chicago, previously told BI that one reason he moved to British Columbia in 2020 with his partner was to escape gun violence.
“When you’re in public and you hear a noise, nobody runs, nobody checks over their shoulder and nobody thinks it could be gun violence,” he said.