While filming seasons of Game of Thrones in 2011 and 2013, Emilia Clarke tragically suffered two brain aneurysms.
In 2019, after undergoing numerous surgeries, she broke the shocking news. In a new interview with BBC One’s Sunday Morning, she commented on the current status of her health, telling the show, per The Independent, “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.” She added, “I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that.”
She also commented on her brain scans, saying, “There’s quite a bit missing! Which always makes me laugh. Because strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn’t get blood for a second, it’s gone. And so the blood finds a different route to get around but then whatever bit it’s missing is therefore gone.”
She developed aphasia, a language impairment that affects one’s capacity for communication, after the aneurysms. Clarke had trouble remembering her own name at one time. In 2019, she established SameYou, a nonprofit organization that raises funds to improve access to neurorehabilitation following brain damage and stroke. Fans contributed more than $45,000 to her charitable venture in the same year.