Maisie Williams is over trying to filter herself.
In a new interview with NYLON's May 2016 issue, the 18-year-old Game of Thrones actress explains why she no longer tries to project a perfect image, saying, "I used to [present] a version of myself that was very clean and neat, and then I thought, 'What's the point?' That's the worst role model to be—to be someone else."
"Being perfect is a bit disheartening," she adds.
Maisie doesn't feel the need to project an always sunny image to her fans, either. "I still don't feel like I owe anyone anything," she says. "If I don't want a picture one day, I don't have a problem saying no. I know some people get really weird about that, like, 'You're so mean.' But if I was really in love with someone, I wouldn't just want a picture. I would want to hang out with them."
She clearly has a different perspective on fandom than most teenagers thanks to her role on a hit HBO show. Playing Arya Stark on Game of Thrones also gives her a different outlook on the series' controversial scenes. As she tells NYLON, "Yes, it is disturbing watching a woman get raped on-screen, but it's also disturbing watching kids getting killed, babies getting killed, horses being killed, basically everything you can think of on the show being killed, murdered, tortured."
Some might find Maisie's GoT role intense for a teenager, but the actress herself doesn't see it that way. "I'm so grateful that the first job I ever landed taught me to never take a role that was 'less,'" she says. "I've had the opportunity to play a lot of actors' dream role—I don't want to ever settle."
She might not want to settle down in her personal life, either. Maisie does have a boyfriend, she says, but she's not looking too far into the future just yet. "He's really sweet," she tells NYLON. "I feel like I'm in love right now, but I don't know what I am going to feel like down the line. That's why I am kind of closed-minded about marriage—I don't even know if I want to get married."
When it comes to matters of the heart, she relates well to what another (former) child star once said. "I've never sat up and thought about my sexuality for hours," she says. "It's like what Shailene Woodley said: 'I fall in love with personalities and not people or genders.' I have no problem with anyone who would want to be labeled, but I also think that it is no one's business."
For more of Maisie's candid interview, pick up the May 2016 issue of NYLON. Game of Thrones premieres Sunday, Apr. 24, at 9 p.m. on HBO.