Gemma Whelan: Game of Thrones team allowed me to breastfeed

Gemma Whelan was allowed to breastfeed her baby daughter on the set of ‘Game of Thrones’.

The 40-year-old actress – who played Yara Greyjoy in the HBO fantasy series, which ended in 2019 – gave birth to her first child in 2017 and she was allowed by the production team to bring the tot on to set and take whatever time she needed to nurse her baby.

Gemma will always be grateful for the way that she was accommodated as a new working mother, and she insists that all shoots should be like that.

Speaking to The Independent newspaper, she said: “With ‘Game of Thrones’, actually, I went back with my daughter and she was six weeks old and they allowed for breastfeeding … That should just be a normal thing – you have a child and you have to feed it but you’re working as well.”

Gemma and her husband, comedian-and-actor Gerry Howell, welcomed their second child into the world six weeks ago and despite her fears she would be “on the shelf for a little while” due to her baby she landed a role on new British police drama ‘The Tower, and the team on that show were also very accommodating of her needs as a new mum second time round.

She said: “I thought I’d be on the shelf for a little while after having the baby, which is fine, but I was very lucky.”

In a 2020 interview with Radio Times, Gemma expressed her concerns that having children would wreck her acting career, saying: “I was worried, as many actors are, that if I had a baby my career would be over.

“Actually, if you just ask for what you need without being an idiot, it [taking your baby on set] isn’t insurmountable. And your career isn’t over.”