The author of one of the most popular book series of all time has opened up about his struggles with “sadness and depression.”
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, 77, whose net worth is estimated at $120 million, revealed he’s suffered from melancholia over the last year in a blog post titled “Better Late Than Never.”
“Remember me?” he began. “It’s been a while, I know. My last blog post went up here on February 19. 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.”
“This year has been… stressful, to say the least,” Martin continued. “So much has been happening; it’s been overwhelming. Some great things, exciting things. Dreams coming true. But there have been nightmares too. I have lost friends. Battled sadness and depression. The worst may be yet to come.”
Martin also wrote that aging has proven difficult for him, and that “getting old is no fun.” He added that, along with his struggles, he’s had some “amazing” moments as well.
“I suppose that’s just life,” he wrote. “Of course, I knew that. If you’ve read my stories, you know that.”
Martin co-created HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a prequel series to Game of Thrones. The first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premiered in January and received nine Emmy nominations, including a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. The show’s leads, Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell, however, weren’t nominated in acting categories.
“I hope to attend… but that depends on… well, on a lot of things,” Martin wrote of the Emmys, adding, “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.”
