Emilia Clarke’s harrowing experiences with multiple brain injuries threatened both her life and career.
In an interview with the U.K. magazine The Big Issue, the 37-year-old actress opened up about the lasting impact of two aneurysms she suffered in 2011 and 2013 and how the injuries profoundly impacted her sense of self and heightened her insecurities at work.
“When you have a brain injury, because it alters your sense of self on such a dramatic level, all of the insecurities you have going into the workplace quadruple overnight,” the Game of Thrones alum explained.
“The first fear we all had was: ‘Oh my God, am I going to get fired? Am I going to get fired because they think I’m not capable of completing the job?’” Clarke recalled.
The pressure and stress of performing were so intense that she feared another brain hemorrhage might occur while she was on stage. She remembered thinking, “Well, if I’m going to die, I better die on live TV.”
Despite these dark times, the Me Before You alum now views her journey through brain injury recovery as a source of strength, saying, “It has given me a superpower.”
Clarke’s first aneurysm occurred in 2011 after she finished filming the first season of Game of Thrones, leading to a stroke and a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Her condition required immediate brain surgery following a severe illness during a gym session, as she recounted in a 2019 essay for The New Yorker.
Remarkably, she even struggled to remember her own name two weeks post-surgery.