From surviving two brain aneurysms, Emilia Clarke has opened up about the experience. The actress talked to BBC’s Sunday Morning about how it affected her life while promoting her West End debut with the play The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theater. In this, she cites her breakout role in Game of Thrones as what gave her “that purpose.”
“It was the most excruciating pain,” she said. “It was incredibly helpful to have Game of Thrones sweep me up and give me that purpose.”
During the run of the HBO fantasy series, Emilia Clarke suffered two brain aneurysms. One in 2011 and a second in 2013, requiring her to have long stretches of recovery. She first opened up about it in 2019. The two health crises meant that she lost parts of the organ but was still able to function without any issues.
“The amount of my brain that is no longer usable — it’s remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions,” Emilia Clarke said about her brain aneurysms. “I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that.”
Emilia Clarke on Surviving Brain Aneurysms
Due to the two brain aneurysms, Emilia Clarke started her own charity called SameYou for people suffering from brain injuries, like what she experienced, strokes, and other neurological issues. The charity provides information on Acquired Brain Injury, improving neurorehabilitation, collaborating with neuro clinicians, and funding solutions for people with ABI.
Moving on from her brain aneurysms, Emilia Clarke keeps herself busy. The play, The Seagull, opened on July 6. Next year, she will be voicing a character in the animated film The Amazing Maurice with Hugh Laurie (House) and David Thewlis (Fargo). She is set to star in The Pod Generation, a sci-fi rom-com with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Vinette Robinson (Sherlock). She will join Michael Shannon in the biopic McCarthy. The actress, among others like Olivia Colman, is rumored to star in Marvel’s Disney Plus series Secret Invasion, which will be led by Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn (The Outsider).