Vegan Game of Thrones star Jerome Flynn has revealed why he ditched animal products.
In an interview with the Mail Online, the actor reveals he initially adopted a plant-based diet because he had a crush on a fellow student – who was vegan.
But the thespian found it difficult to stop eating goat’s cheese – until the founder of a leading animal rights charity opened his eyes.
Vegan crush
“[My crush] used to growl at me if I sat next to her with a sausage for lunch, and I was rather uneducated and naive about the process to get meat to our plate,” he said. “She would bring me educational leaflets from PETA and Viva.
“I went vegan, but I found it very hard to be vegan at that time – I didn’t really know myself how to look after myself in terms of plant protein and it started to drive me a bit mad, so I came off the vegan train and was vegetarian, but I was practically vegan.
“I stayed with goat’s cheese, thinking naively that there was less cruelty involved in the goat industry. But then, my friend, the wonderful Juliet Gellatley [founder and director of vegan charity Viva] came to stay and shared a campaign she was doing about the goat farming industry. It made it very explicit the kind of terrible cruelty that was going on, so I came off and I’ve been vegan since, that was about three years ago.”
Viva! says: “We are absolutely thrilled to have played such a pivotal role in Jerome’s journey towards veganism and are proud to have such an outspoken, passionate activist as our patron.”