In September, Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas announced that they were divorcing after four years of marriage. While the couple originally portrayed their split as amicable, things quickly got ugly as they wound up in a custody dispute surrounding their two daughters. Speaking publicly about the experience for the first time, Turner told British Vogue, “There were some days that I didn’t know if I was going to make it.”
When the divorce was announced, rumors spread that Turner was a party girl who shirked her maternal responsibilities. She was filming a television series in the U.K. at the time and told Vogue that the experience was hellish. “I mean, those were the worst few days of my life,” Turner said. “It hurt because I really do completely torture myself over every move I make as a mother — mum guilt is so real! I just kept having to say to myself, ‘None of this is true. You are a good mum, and you’ve never been a partier.’”
A few months after announcing their split, Turner sued Jonas, claiming he was keeping their daughters in New York and refusing to hand over their passports. According to Turner, this turn of event proved to be incredibly taxing. “There were some days that I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I would call my lawyer saying, ‘I can’t do this. I just can’t.’ I was just never strong enough to stand up for myself. And then, finally, after two weeks of me being in a rut, she reminded me that it was my children I was fighting for,” she told the magazine. “Once anyone says to me, ‘Do it for your kids,’ I’m doing it. I wouldn’t do it for myself, but I’ll find the strength for them.”
There was one bright spot in this dark period of Turner’s life: Taylor Swift. The two became very close in the midst of Turner’s divorce — they got spaghetti, if you’ll recall. When Turner reached out to Swift to see if she knew anyone renting an apartment in New York, the singer offered up her place free of charge. “Taylor was an absolute hero to me this year,” Turner said. “I’ve never been more grateful to anyone than I am for her because she took my children and me and provided us with a home and a safe space.”
While her divorce seems like it’s gotten nasty at times, Turner remained polite about Jonas. She said that she was “unhappy” with how everything went down but that their main focus is their children. “I’m confident that we can figure it out. Joe is a great father to our children, and that’s all that I can ask for,” she said. Let’s put a pin in that, and circle back in 20 years when Turner writes an incredible memoir about all of this.
