George R.R. Martin shared a personal update on his mental health Monday, revealing he struggled with “sadness and depression” over the past year.
The “A Song of Ice and Fire” franchise author took to his blog for the first time in nearly six months on Monday, sharing that any posts after February were written by his “mighty minions.”
“Remember me? It’s been a while, I know. My last blog post went up here on February 19,” Martin wrote. “The posts that came after were made by my mighty minions. I am lucky enough to have a great staff of assistants… though even with their help, I kept falling further and further behind.”
As Martin went on, he admitted that “this year has been… stressful, to say the least.”
“So much has been happening, it’s been overwhelming. Some great things, exciting things. Dreams coming true. But there have been nightmares too,” he said. “I have lost friends. Battled sadness and depression. The worst may be yet to come. I turned seventy-seven last September, and I tell you, getting old is no fun.”
However, Martin assured his fans that, amid these hard times, he’s experienced “amazing times as well.”
“I suppose that’s just life. Of course, I knew that. If you’ve read my stories, you know that,” he continued. “So much to post about… I will try and catch up some… and my minions will help… but my posts are likely to [be] short and rushed.”
Before concluding his update, Martin took a moment to celebrate HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which he co-created with Ira Parker, nabbing nine Emmy nominations.
“I hope to attend… but that depends on… well, on a lot of things,” he concluded. “I am proud of our team, and hope we take home a few of the statues, but I will confess that I was hoping we’d get a few of the acting nominations as well. But there’s always next year.”
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which is based on Martin’s “Tales of Dunk and Egg,” received nominations for nine awards, including Outstanding Drama Series. However, the drama’s leads, Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell, were both snubbed in acting categories.
All of Season 1 of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is available to stream on HBO Max.
