'Game of Thrones' star reveals how the show helped him with body image issues: 'They were looking for exactly me'

Updated

Game of Thrones star John Bradley talked about dealing with weight issues and how the hit HBO show helped him tackle his insecurities on Conan Monday.

Host Conan O’Brien said he attended the Game of Thrones wrap party in Belfast, Ireland where Bradley gave an impromptu and emotional speech to those in attendance. On Tuesday, Bradley summarized the message that he delivered for O’Brien’s audience.

“As somebody who grew up overweight and kind of unhappy because of it, and thinking that life was going to pass you by because of it. And all the time you go to bed and you think, ‘I'd give anything to wake up and not have this weight,’” Bradley said. “Then suddenly all the time you're thinking that, especially when I was 19, 20, to think while I was feeling that about myself, David [Beniof] and Dan [Weiss], our producers, and everybody else connected with the show, they were looking for me — they were looking for exactly me.”

The 30-year-old Bradley, who plays Samwell Tarly on the show that begins its final season this Sunday, said that if he had known as a young man that there was a place for him on an iconic TV show, and what kind of affect that would have on his life, he wouldn’t have been able to believe it.

“It's not just a case of they're going to accept what I consider to be faults about myself, but they're going to see them as virtues. And they're going to be my key into this amazing experience and meeting all these amazing people,” Bradley said. “If i had known they were looking for me and what kind of affect it was going to have on the rest of my life, then I just wouldn’t have been able to believe it.”

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