Emilia Clarke survived two brain aneurysms while working on “Game of Thrones” and became convinced she was “meant to die” in the aftermath.
While interviewing on the “How to Fail With Elizabeth Day” podcast, Clarke walked through her experiences living through two different aneurysms – one in 2011 and another in 2013.
“The biggest thing that happened to me with the second one was I shut down emotionally,” Clarke said. “And it became this thing where I just couldn’t look anyone in the eye.”
She added: “I was just convinced that I had cheated death and I was meant to die and every day, that was all I could think about.”
In 2011, the actress – who rose to fame playing Daenerys Targaryen in “Game of Thrones” – experienced a subarachnoid hemorrhage after wrapping the first season of the HBO hit. Clarke had surgery and experienced some brief struggles speaking in the aftermath. Doctors also informed her they’d spotted a second, small aneurysm on the other side of her brain. In 2013, doctors discovered it had grown in size and they had to open Clarke’s skull to fix the issue.
“It was this, like, I’m not meant to be here. This is going to come and get me,” Clarke said about life after both surgeries. “You’re walking around knowing that your body failed you. Your brain has failed you … and no one else can see it.”
That fear got so bad that shortly after her second surgery, she was sent to San Diego Comic-Con to promote the upcoming season of “Game of Thrones” only to start getting headaches. Clarke thought they were a precursor to another aneurysm but this time the last one.
“My publicist was like, ‘Right, we got to do this live interview with MTV,’ and I was like, ‘I think I’m going to die. I think it’s happening,’” Clarke said.
“I was blessed that after each of my brain injuries, in my mind, there was no other option but to carry on,” she continued. “I was raised by a family that did not partake in pity. Self-pity was not on the table. It’s not how we operated.”
The aneurysm and post-surgery recovery did not stop her from starring in the biggest show of the 2010s. Clarke played the Mother of Dragons for all eight seasons of “Game of Thrones.”
