Emilia Clarke has once again opened up about her life-threatening health battle during the filming of HBO’s hit fantasy drama Game of Thrones, revealing that she felt she had “cheated death” after surviving two brain aneurysms.
Speaking on the How To Fail podcast hosted by Elizabeth Day, the actor reflected on the terrifying period between 2011 and 2013 when she suffered two brain haemorrhages while portraying Daenerys Targaryen on the globally popular show.
Clarke revealed that the first haemorrhage occurred shortly after filming the first season of the series. She later underwent emergency surgery and returned to work despite ongoing physical and emotional trauma. A second aneurysm, discovered during follow-up treatment, required another operation after complications arose.
The 39-year-old actor said the second brain injury affected her mental health deeply. “I was convinced that I had cheated death and I was meant to die,” Clarke shared during the podcast conversation.
Clarke had first publicly spoken about the ordeal in a 2019 essay for The New Yorker, where she detailed suffering aphasia and fearing she would lose her career after the surgeries.
Despite the trauma, Clarke continued working on Game of Thrones until its final season and later co-founded the charity SameYou to support recovery and rehabilitation for young brain injury survivors.
