Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke reveals stroke battle
Emilia Clarke was a star of Game of Thrones. The final season had an average audience of 44.2 million people. The actress revealed that during the series' production, she suffered two strokes. She was afraid that the creators of the hit would remove her from the cast.
9:06 AM EDT, June 10, 2024
Emilia Clarke's health problems have been known for some time. The actress admitted that at the age of 24, she suffered a stroke in 2011 during an exercise session. Suddenly, she felt pressure in her head and nausea: "At the same time, the pain - thunderous, stabbing, squeezing - was getting worse. At some point, I knew what was happening. My brain was damaged." Clarke had to undergo life-saving surgery. After the ordeal, she learned she had an aneurysm, which the doctors decided not to remove at that time. Two years later, she faced another life-threatening situation.
Emilia Clarke from "Game of Thrones" on fighting for her health
The first stroke occurred shortly after Clarke finished work on the first season of "Game of Thrones." As she recalls, the stroke rendered her unable to speak for a while and nearly caused her to fall into a coma. The second stroke occurred later, with the aneurysm having grown twice as large. Today, Emilia admits that according to her doctors' statistics, she is one of the few who have survived such situations without significant consequences.
"When you suffer a brain injury, your perspective on yourself changes dramatically. The uncertainty you have in the workplace suddenly quadruples overnight," says Clarke in an interview with "Big Issue." She admitted she was sure she would be fired. "Will I be fired for being unable to finish my job?" she recalls.
Interestingly, the actress admitted earlier that, at that time, she feared losing her job and professional failure more than death. "To be brutally honest, the whole experience put me in great shame. I felt broken. I thought the producers believed I was unreliable and would regret hiring me," she recalled in a "Harper's Bazaar interview."
"Today, I don't worry about failures; I live because of them! If something goes wrong, I always believe it can be fixed. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it's scary, but then you can do everything," Clarke comments.
At the beginning of this year, Emilia and her mother, Jenny, were awarded the Order of the British Empire by King Charles III for their contributions to health protection. Let's remember that Clarke - although she feared losing her job with HBO - filmed seven more seasons. "Game of Thrones" became a global hit after the first season, and the final edition was watched by an average of 44 million viewers worldwide.
