Emilia Clarke opens up about suffering aneurysms while filming 'Game of Thrones': 'It's remarkable that I am able to speak'
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has opened up about suffering two brain aneurysms and losing parts of the organ because of it.
The 35-year-old actress recalled her health troubles in an interview with the BBC, sharing that she experienced fatal aneurysms while filming the hit HBO series.
"It was the most excruciating pain," Clarke said. "It was incredibly helpful to have Game of Thrones sweep me up and give me that purpose."
She said her first medical emergency came in 2011 and then the second in 2013, which needed lengthy recovery.
"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," the actress said. "I'm in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that."
A brain aneurysm is a ballooning of a weakened blood vessel wall in the brain. It can leak or rupture, causing bleeding into the brain.
According to Clarke, the brain scans she saw after the incident showed "quite a bit missing."
Since the incidents, the actress has created SameYou, a charity for brain injury and stroke victims.
Clarke is currently starring in the play The Seagull in London's West End.