Bella Ramsey said that she wore a chest binder most of the time while filming HBO apocalyptic video game adaptation, The Last of Us.
The actor, 19, stars as Ellie in the TV hit alongside Pedro Pascal, which follows them as they make a life-threatening trek across America after a deadly virus decimates the country.
Prior to the show’s release, Ramsey spoke about her gender fluidity and non-binary identity with The New York Times, telling the outlet that she "couldn’t care less" about which pronouns people used to refer to her.
Now in an interview with British GQ, the British star, who chose to be referred to by she/her pronouns in the article, revealed how her non-binary identity influenced her character.
The star explained that she wore a chest binder "90 percent" of the time while shooting the series, which she said helped her focus better on set.
Chest binding is a practice that minimises the appearance of a person’s breasts and flattens their chest.
“Which probably isn’t healthy,” she told the publication. “Like, please bind safely.”
Ramsey also spoke about how she shared many conversations with her “super supportive” co-star Pascal regarding sexuality and gender.
She continued: “They weren’t always deep: they could be funny and humorous, the whole spectrum. We were just very honest and open with each other.”
Before landing her role on the HBO series, Ramsey starred in period films Catherine Called Birdy and Becoming Elizabeth, which she said made her feel "powerful" because they gave her an opportunity to play characters who were different from herself.
She told the outlet: “I felt super powerful in that. Playing these more feminine characters is a chance to be something so opposite to myself, and it’s really fun.
“This is what bothers me more than pronouns: being called a ‘young woman’ or a ‘powerful young woman’, ‘young lady,’ but I’m just not [that].”
