Emilia Clarke shares never-before-seen images from her hospitalisation with a brain aneurysm and reveals the impact it had on her mental health
Shocking Emilia Clarke has released unseen photographs taken during her recovery from a life threatening brain aneurysm in 2011 when she was just 24 years old
Emilia Clarke has released unseen photographs taken during her recovery from a life-threatening brain aneurysm in 2011, when she was just 24 years old.
The Game Of Thrones star recently told of how she suffered and survived two brain aneurysms while filming the fantasy drama, the second of which nearly killed her.
Emilia, now 32, made
Discussing the impact it had not just on her physical health but mental wellbeing, she revealed: ‘The first time it was difficult, with the second one I found it much harder to stay optimistic. ADVERTISING
‘[I coped with it as a] a day to day thing. I definitely went through a period of being… down – putting it mildly.’
Emilia explained that when a part of your brain is starved of blood for more than a minute it dies, which is what happened to her after her second aneurysm. Video playing bottom right…Click here to expand to full page
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Horrendous: The Game Of Thrones star recently told of how she suffered and survived two brain aneurysms while filming the fantasy drama, the second of which nearly killed her
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Hospitalised: Emilia, now 32, made an appearance on CBS Sunday Morning where she recalled the dark place she went to after her surgery, and shared images from her hospital stay
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Secret: Emilia only revealed that she had suffered two brain aneurysms last month and has now shared unseen pictures from her hospitalisation
She recalled: ‘So, they [the doctors] literally were looking at the brain and being like, ‘Well, we think it could be – could be her concentration, it could be her peripheral vision,’ she said.
‘I always say it’s my taste in men,’ she joked.
‘For a very long time, I thought it was my ability to act…that was a deep paranoia.’
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Struggle: Discussing the impact it had not just on her physical health but mental wellbeing, she said ‘The first time it was difficult, the second one I found it much harder to stay optimistic’
During the interview Emilia also admitted what it was like to return to the set after her brain haemorrhage which happened after filming season one of the show.
She said that once she returned to shoot the second season she had no time to ‘question her own mortality’ because she was too busy playing a ‘bada*s character who walked through fire’.
Emilia said: ‘You go on the set, and you play a badass character, and you walk through fire, and you speak to hundreds of people, and you’re being asked to be – to work as hard as you possibly can.
‘And that became the thing that just saved me from considering my own mortality, yeah,’ she said of working on the set while dealing with her first aneurysm.
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Life threatening: Emilia explained that when a part of your brain is starved of blood for more than a minute it dies, which is what happened to her after her second aneurysm
During her open later in The New Yorker, Emilia explained that she had just finished filming the first season of the HBO series when she had her first brain aneurysm while working out with a personal trainer.
Emilia was quickly sent for an MRI after the shocking event, where they diagnosed her with a subarachnoid haemorrhage.
This type of hemorrhage is a life-threatening form of stroke, which is caused by bleeding around the brain and a third of patients die immediately or soon after suffering one.
Emilia said: ‘In my worst moments, I wanted to pull the plug. I asked the medical staff to let me die. My job—my entire dream of what my life would be—centred on language, on communication. Without that, I was lost.’
Back to work: During the interview Emilia also admitted what it was like to return to the set after her brain haemorrhage which happened after filming season one of the show
While recovering from her first aneurysm she was told that she had another on the other side of her brain which could burst at any time, however it may also just lie dormant.
Before she was thrown back into filming, Emilia had to endure a press tour for the first season of the show and said she remembers feeling like she could die at any moment and made it through interviews by sipping on morphine.
After struggling through filming for season two and pushing herself to complete season three, Emilia took a role as Holly Golightly on Broadway.
While in New York, Emilia went for a one of her regular brain scans and medics discovered that it had doubled in size and wanted to operate to avoid any complications.
Despite being promised a simple operation, Emilia said she awoke screeching in agony following the failed operation and doctors had to operate again in order to improve her chance of survival.
She said while spending another month in hospital she sometimes lost hope and suffered from anxiety and panic attacks, adding that she felt like a shadow of her former self.
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Legendary: Emilia returned to shoot the second season and had no time to ‘question her own mortality’ because she was too busy playing a ‘bada*s’ (pictured as Daenerys Targaryen)
The Me Before You actress said that she now struggles recalling those dark times because her mind has tried to block them out, but she does remember being convinced she would die, and that her story would get out.
A reporter asked her about her operation six weeks after the surgery, when the National Enquirer ran a small story, but Emilia was quick to deny the allegation.
However Emilia said she now feels like the time is right to speak out, and acknowledges that she is one of the fortunate few with an excellent level of care.
