Happy Valley star James Norton says latest role left him 'coughing up tears' during panic attacks

ok.co.uk:

Happy Valley villian James Norton has opened up about the intense emotional impact of his role in a London play, which led to him suffering panic attacks.The 39 year old, who played troubled Tommy Lee-Royce in the ITV trhiller, took on the challenging part of Jude in A Little Life, an adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s novel that deals with trauma and sexual abuse.

He described the role as "the hardest thing I've done", admitting that he overestimated his ability to separate his work and home lives, especially when dealing with such difficult subject matters. "And so, to do the role justice, I gave over my life for six months," he said.

His dedication, however, took a serious toll. "But if the work starts to compromise one’s relationships, it can become unhealthy," he told The Sunday Times this week. "Suddenly you realise you haven’t left any space for other people and so I was pissed off with that.

We did the play 180 times." Describing the aftermath, James added: "I was a mess," and detailed the emotional breakdowns he experienced: "Having panic attacks.