Tell bullies to ‘sod off’. That’s the advice IOC President Kirsty Coventry has for young athletes facing bullying. She spoke to Al Jazeera ahead of the Youth Olympics in Senegal, where she reflected on her own experience as a young athlete.
Published On 3 Nov 20263 Nov 2026
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SEBASTIAN Croft has opened up about how he was cruelly ‘bullied’ and ‘ostracised’ back in school.
The Celebrity Traitors star, who is known for appearing in series such as Game of Thrones, quit school at 16 after facing backlash over his sexuality.
“I had a really difficult few years,” said Sebastian – who is affectionately known as Bash – in a new interview with the i Paper.
The star, who is openly queer, explained that he was “outed” by a classmate he was having a secret relationship with.
“I don’t blame the other boy who did it, because he was obviously just also trying to navigate the fact that he was getting chipped for being gay.
“But it was a really lonely and difficult time in my life. I would leave school and be an actor and be doing the thing I loved the most, and be with other like-minded people, and feel so liberated in myself, and then I go back to school and be bullied and ostracised,” said Sebastian, who is now 24.
The actor attended a boarding school just outside of Oxford, where he grew up.
Sebastian rose to prominence after having his TV debut on Game Of Thrones as a young Ned Stark.
Playing the younger version of Sean Bean’s character, he appeared in Winterfell via Bran Stark’s greenseeing flashbacks in the episodes Home and The Door.
He later bagged a spot in Netflix’s Heartstopper.
Here, he began a romance with co-star Joe Locke which lasted three years – but the pair never went public about the relationship.
Over the years, he has earned acclaim for his roles, including a BAFTA Children’s Award nomination for his starring turn as Atticus in Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans.
