Lena Headey's naked Game of Thrones 'Walk of Shame' body double revealed

Game Of Thrones star Lena Headey has said Cersei Lannister’s penance walk was 'humiliating on an epic scale', but it turns out she had a body double to do the worst part for her.

In the season five finale, wicked queen Cersei confessed to her incestuous relationship with her cousin Lancel Lannister and as punishment was stripped naked, beaten, had her head shaved and was paraded through the streets as crowds gathered to mock her.

#GameOfThrones star @IAMLenaHeadey on Cersei's season 5 journey, harrowing "penance walk" https://t.co/cX6fyrHGS1 pic.twitter.com/EAHBnsXOQ1

— Marcelo Córdova (@marcelocordova) June 18, 2015

But Entertainment Weekly has now revealed it was actress Rebecca Van Cleave who appeared naked in front of all those people after she was drafted in as a body double for Lena.

Rebecca Van Cleave was Lena Headey’s body double for the naked walk of shame (Andreas Branch/AP)

Rebecca said: “It was one of the scariest, most wonderful, most gratifying experiences I could have imagined. I never in a million years would have thought I would be in Dubrovnik surrounded by hundreds of extras and crew members throwing food at me, but it was amazing.

“Lena was so good about walking beside me and guiding me into what Cersei was thinking and the movements. We were playing tag team — ‘You’re it!’ — and trying to make light of the fact we’re all covered in everything and going through this together.”

Thank you @IAMLenaHeadey and @GameOfThrones for letting me "walk a mile in Cersei's shoes." On the record… https://t.co/wqWdR0nDOg

— Rebecca Van Cleave (@rebeccajoean) June 18, 2015

Big thank you to @JamesHibberd and @EW for the wonderful article. Couldn't have asked for a better introduction. Hello world.

— Rebecca Van Cleave (@rebeccajoean) June 18, 2015

But she admitted it wasn’t easy: “It was very surreal and emotional, to be honest. I had a good little cry afterwards. Lena and I put so much into that scene and to see it all come together was really special.”

Lena said she chose not to do the six-minute scene 'for several reasons'.

The actress said of Rebecca: “I was like, ‘Listen guys, she happens to have a beautiful body, but I don’t do casting.’ If somebody is brave enough to do this, I applaud it.”

Lena Headey has a lot of tattoos (Jordan Strauss/Invision)

Hannah Waddingham, who played the septa accompanying the queen, revealed Lena has many tattoos that the make-up department would have had to cover up if she had done the walk herself.

“I’m sure it’s a nightmare for them!” she told Vulture.com. “But our fantastic body double was just so brave. I had a lot of respect for her.”