'Game of Thrones' star Emilia Clarke reflects on life-threatening health scares
The actress says surviving two brain aneurysms left her feeling like she had 'cheated death'
Emilia Clarke has opened up about the life-altering health emergencies that left her feeling as though she had “cheated death” after surviving two brain aneurysms.
The 39-year-old actress, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s Game of Thrones, suffered brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013 during the height of her early career on the hit fantasy series.
Reflecting on the experience in a recent interview, Clarke admitted that the aftermath of the medical emergencies left a lasting psychological impact.
“For a number of years, I felt that I had cheated death, and it was coming to get me,” she said. “I truly felt like I had done something wrong, and I shouldn’t be here.”
She added that the trauma also made her question her future in acting, saying she feared the experiences had permanently affected her ability to perform.
“I also thought it ruined my ability to act, which some people might agree with!” she said with characteristic humor.
Clarke rose to global fame starring alongside actors including Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Sean Bean, Richard Madden, and Rose Leslie during the show’s run from 2011 to 2019.
While Game of Thrones became a global cultural phenomenon, Clarke has previously pushed back on reports about her earnings from the series.
Addressing speculation that she earned $300,000 per episode, she dismissed the figure.
“We didn’t earn that much,” she said. “Can you imagine? I’d have been driving a couple of Porsches!”
Beyond the financial speculation, Clarke has also spoken about the emotional challenges of sudden global fame, describing it as something she had to gradually learn to understand.
“I spent a lot of time trying to understand it,” she said. “And then you realise it’s just a formula: The less you’re on TV, the less famous you are. It comes and it goes.”
In earlier remarks, Clarke also expressed gratitude to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), crediting doctors and nurses for saving her life during her medical emergencies.
In an open letter marking the NHS’s anniversary, she recalled the moment a nurse first suggested she undergo a brain scan after initial uncertainty in emergency care, a decision she says ultimately saved her life.
“The nurse who suggested, after everyone else in A&E struggled to find an answer when I was first admitted, that maybe, just maybe I should have a brain scan. She saved my life,” she wrote.