Bella Ramsey's diagnosis after The Last of Us colleague noticed signs
After filming the first season of The Last Of Us, Bella Ramsey was diagnosed with autism
Bella Ramsey is back in the second season of HBO's The Last Of Us, but while filming the first installment, their colleague saw the signs of their disorder.
The drama, which airs on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK, is set to adapt the second game in the original video game series.
It's continued Bella's success after her debut in Game of Thrones, but the star has had to contend with her neurodivergence diagnosis.
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In an interview with British Vogue, Bella said: “I’ve spoken a bit about neurodivergence before, but I always for some reason didn’t want to… I felt like I didn’t want to say what it was… Shoot.”
“I got diagnosed with autism when I was filming Season 1 of The Last of Us.”
During their film shoot in Canada, one of the show's crew members with an autistic daughter initially assumed Bella had it too.
This assumption started the actor's journey that led to their diagnosis, though it was something they had "always wondered" about.
Bella later said that the diagnosis was "freeing" and that having the label has been "so helpful" to understand themselves.
The star explained: “The label of being autistic has been so helpful to me because that’s helped me to understand myself, but gender and sexuality-wise, labels do not feel comfy for me in any capacity, because I feel like I’m putting myself into a box. I feel trapped,” they said.
“It enables me to walk through the world with more grace towards myself about not being able to do the easy everyday tasks that everyone else seems to be able to do.”
They added that they believe their “painful hyperawareness of other people’s micro-expressions and body language” has actually helped them as an actor.
“I’ve always been watching and learning from people. Having to learn more manually how to socialise and interact with the people around me has helped me with acting.”
“My experience of moving through the world is as an autistic person. There’s no reason for people not to know."
The Last Of Us season 2 is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.