30 Fascinating Facts About Lena Headey That Every Fan Will Love To Know

27 June 2019, 6:33 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Lena Headey, world renowned for her portrayal of wicked Cersei Lannister on "Game of Thrones," has earned several awards through the years for her strong performance. She has been celebrated in the internet as Cersei of House Lannister, First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, and the Protector of the Seven Kingdoms. Here are a few interesting things to know about the English actress:

Her character of Cersei Lannister from the "Game of Thrones" was said to be voted by fans as the series' most hated character and that she is more than often shunned at fan conventions.
In fact, during an autograph session at Comic Con, she claimed that people were actually snatching their books from her hands to prevent her from signing it.
However, the real truth is that she does not resemble any of the characters she has played till date in her real life. She is a relatively shy character in real life, and is a very big animal right activist.
She along with certain other cast members of "Game of Thrones" took part in a short promotional video by HBO and even attended a Syrian refugee camp in Greece in 2016.
Her character of Cersei Lannister was one of the principal characters from the "Game of Thrones" series to have appeared on the UK's Royal Mail postage stamps in the year 2018.
Her performance as the wicked Cersei Lannister earned her a nomination for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, but lost to Thandie Newton from "Westworld."
During her childhood, she was made fun of at her school, because of the elocution lessons her mother made her take, in an effort to learn how to "speak like a lady."
It was reported that Peter Dinklage first read the pilot of "Game of Thrones" on the sets of "Pete Smalls Is Dead." He immediately recommended Headey to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
The duo is known to have been close friends, and that whenever their shooting schedules lined up, they shared an apartment and were seen visiting pubs and restaurants together.
She loves watching horror movies and even claims them to be very relaxing while offering her the real escape. She states that her mind kind of shuts down and all she can say after getting really caught up in the movie is that "That was nice."

In an effort to stay in shape and physically fit, she practices yoga and boxing since the early 1990s. She even claims that she is kind of obsessed with boxing, and she would go every day whenever she isn't working.
She once in an interview came out publicly stating that an encounter with disgraced movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein, left her very uncomfortable. He had actually asked her to go to his hotel room to look at a script. But when she rejected his advances, he allegedly whispered: “Don’t tell anybody about this. Not your manager, not your agent,” while marching her out of the hotel.
Before being cast in "Game of Thrones," she reportedly had a clause inserted into her contract that she would never share scenes with Jerome Flynn who played Ser Bronn in the series. She added that the duo must remain apart on-set.
This was because Headey was involved in a relationship with Flynn in the early 2000s, which is said to have ended on a pretty bad term. It was reported that Flynn also had the same clause inserted into his contract.
She is a firm believer in Supernatural things and even has many stories of her encounters with apparitions during her childhood.
During the shooting of "Game of Thrones" Season 1, she was pregnant with her son Wylie. the production team did not want to recast her, as they were enthusiastic about her performance.
It was reported that the team worked around it, with directors keeping the camera frame above her waist, or have her sit at a table during any scene.
In case of wide shots in which her character Cersei can be seen walking around, her costumes would have large billowing sleeves which she carried in front of her to hide her pregnancy.
Her character of Queen Cersei Lannister, as the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, was officially the most hated character in a 2014 poll, following the death of Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson).
In reality, she was not able to skin a real rabbit for a scene in her movie "The Brothers Grimm," and had to get a latex rabbit as a replacement. However, she had watched and learned how to skin a real rabbit alive.

She is fond of dogs and reportedly owns nearly five dogs - a beagle named Wizard and a Brussels Griffon named Nugget, later changed to Angela Lansbury, two Dachshunds named Monkey and Skippy and a rescued dog named Irish.
She appeared in an anti-circus public service announcement for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in the year 2008. Since then, she has often campaigned on behalf of animal rights.
She is a strong supporter of the LGBT rights organization NOH8 and even appeared on a T-shirt designed by them and sold through Represent.com to raise funds for the cause in April 2015.
Headey is known to have provided her voice for an episode of the Cartoon Network TV series, "The Super Hero Squad Show," playing Black Widow and Mystique.
She is known to have a number of tattoos inked on her body, including a large floral design on her back, and a Pema Chödrön quote on her ribs.
She got married to musician Peter Loughran in May 2007. The couple had a son Wylie Loughran born on March 31, 2010. The relationship ended in divorce on December 2013.
She was in a relationship with director Dan Cadan, with whom she worked on the short film "The Devil's Wedding." The couple was blessed with a daughter named Teddy, born on July 10, 2015. However, the relationship is said to have ended by June 2019.
She did a voice-over for an advert by the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, which launched ahead of World Alzheimer's Day in the year 2018.
For her role as Angelika in "The Brothers Grimm," she had to lick a real toad. Unlike the scene with the latex rabbit, she didn't have a replacement and actually licked a real toad. She claimed that it hardly had any taste, and that the real problem was with the texture of the toad.
Her famous role as Queen Cersei Lannister on "Game of Thrones," isn't the first time, for Headey to play as Queen, as she portrayed the character of Queen Gorgo in the 2006 movie "300" and reprised it in the 2014 sequel "300: Rise of an Empire."