Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
17.3K
Emilia Clarke Shares 5 Never-Before-Seen Photos From Hospital After Having Two Aneurysms
Emilia Clarke is known to many of us as Daenerys Targaryen the mother of dragons and – let’s face it one of the most badass characters on Game of Thrones – while she was conquering kingdoms onscreen little did her fans know she was battling an even bigger fight offscreen. Recently the queen shared with the world how she has suffered multiple life-threatening brain aneurysms, the first one occurring right after the first season of Game of Thrones had wrapped. For the first time ever the actress shared never-before-seen photos of herself following the surgery, as she recovered in the hospital.
RELATED:
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is opening up about her life-threatening brain aneurysms with never-before-seen photos of her hospitalization
Image credits: emilia_clarke
In an essay titled ‘A Battle For My Life,’ published in the New Yorker, the actress reveals that in 2011 she was rushed to the hospital for urgent surgery for a subarachnoid hemorrhage – a type of stroke that one-third of patients can die from.
Image credits: emilia_clarke
The actress wrote that she had been pushing herself hard in the gym, and felt the pressure she was experiencing from the new fame. During one of her workout session, the aneurysm hit. “My trainer had me get into the plank position, and I immediately felt as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain. I tried to ignore the pain and push through it, but I just couldn’t. I told my trainer I had to take a break. Somehow, almost crawling, I made it to the locker room. I reached the toilet, sank to my knees, and proceeded to be violently, voluminously ill. Meanwhile, the pain—shooting, stabbing, constricting pain—was getting worse. At some level, I knew what was happening: my brain was damaged.”
Image credits: emilia_clarke
Clarke went on to write that despite the fear for her life, a bigger fear was centered on her career. She wrote: “I’d never experienced fear like that — a sense of doom closing in. I could see my life ahead, and it wasn’t worth living. I am an actor; I need to remember my lines. Now I couldn’t recall my name. 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 — centered on language, on communication. Without that, I was lost.”
Image credits: cbs
On CBS This Morning the actress shared the photos from her hospitalization and opened up more about what would become on the ongoing fight. Clarke had returned to work six weeks after the incident and told her bosses she wanted her health condition to remain private, “I told my bosses at Thrones about my condition, but I didn’t want it to be a subject of public discussion and dissection. The show must go on! Season two would be my worst. I didn’t know what Daenerys was doing. If I am truly being honest, every minute of every day I thought I was going to die,” she wrote.
Image credits: cbs
Her fears were reawoken when she suffered her second aneurysm two years later. “So, with the second one, there was a bit of my brain that actually died,” Clarke said. “If a part of your brain doesn’t get blood to it for a minute, it will just no longer work. It’s like you short circuit. So, I had that. And they didn’t know what it was. They literally were looking at the brain and being like, ‘Well, we think it could be her concentration, it could be her peripheral vision [affected].’ I always say it’s my taste in men that’s no longer there! That’s the part of my brain, yeah, my decent taste in men.”
Image credits: cbs
Once again the only thing she could think about was her career, saying in her interview she thought this time might have caused her to lose her ability completely. “Really, really, really did. That was a deep paranoia, from the first one as well. I was like, ‘What if something has short-circuited in my brain and I can’t act anymore?’ I mean, literally it’s been my reason for living for a very long time!”
Image credits: cbs
Trying to recover from a second brain injury was much more difficult wrote Clarke, “The recovery was even more painful than it had been after the first surgery. I looked as though I had been through a war more gruesome than any that Daenerys experienced.” In her interview she said her role as powerful Khaleesi helped her get her fire back. “you go on set and you play a badass and you walk through fire, and that became the thing that just saved me from considering my own mortality.”
Image credits: emilia_clarke
The actress wrote in her essay she felt it was time to open up about her condition and said she felt fortunate: “After keeping quiet all these years, I’m telling you the truth in full. Please believe me: I know that I am hardly unique, hardly alone. Countless people have suffered far worse, and with nothing like the care I was so lucky to receive.”
Image credits: emilia_clarke
And has even begun a charity organization to promote visibility for brain inury survivors, “I’ve decided to throw myself into a charity I’ve helped develop in conjunction with partners in the U.K. and the U.S. It is called SameYou, and it aims to provide treatment for people recovering from brain injuries and stroke.”
Image credits: emilia_clarke
Ramping up for the finale of Game of Thrones, the actress is completely in the clear brain-wise and is looking forward to the future. “There’s been so much life that I’ve lived in the ten years that I’ve been working on the show. So, you’re saying good-bye to so much more than just the character. I’m saying good-bye to my twenties!”
Image credits: emilia_clarke
“There is something gratifying, and beyond lucky, about coming to the end of “Thrones.” I’m so happy to be here to see the end of this story and the beginning of whatever comes next.”
Image credits: emilia_clarke
Fans across the internet shared their love and support for the actress
What do you think ?
Nicky OldfieldDesciple 5 years ago
She is so lucky to be alive. My dad died of a brain aneurysm 11 years ago. It was such a shock. He was sitting up in bed one morning and after I heard him put the phone down I went in to ask him if he wanted a cup of tea and he was lying there dead. The verdict was that it was an aneurysm that had just burst killing him instantly. My doctor said "it was just like some turning his lights out. He would have felt no pain and not known what was happening." It was a terrible shock for all of us but we took comfort in knowing he died the way he deserved to ; quickly and without pain. No long drawn out painful disease like cancer. The time he went too was fortuitous as he was planning to go into town for some Christmas shopping later that morning (he died on December 18th). Had he been driving when the aneurysm happened he would have crashed his car and maybe taken somebody with him which of course would have been the last thing any of us would have wanted. Especially dad.
Mary Guidry 5 years ago
I had an aneurysm back in 1996 (Christmas Eve!) at age 46. So I relate. I'm very lucky my husband got me to the hospital quickly and that the neurosurgeon on call was able (with medication) to get the bleed slowed enough for me to make it to surgery to repair it. I'm massively lucky to be alive 23 years later. Everyone says my personality changed a bit, but not many aftereffects - thank goodness. I'm so sorry about your dad!
Load More Replies...
Luis Milian 5 years ago
not only is she a very talented and stunning woman, she is very strong and inspiring! bless her!
Nicky OldfieldDesciple 5 years ago
She is so lucky to be alive. My dad died of a brain aneurysm 11 years ago. It was such a shock. He was sitting up in bed one morning and after I heard him put the phone down I went in to ask him if he wanted a cup of tea and he was lying there dead. The verdict was that it was an aneurysm that had just burst killing him instantly. My doctor said "it was just like some turning his lights out. He would have felt no pain and not known what was happening." It was a terrible shock for all of us but we took comfort in knowing he died the way he deserved to ; quickly and without pain. No long drawn out painful disease like cancer. The time he went too was fortuitous as he was planning to go into town for some Christmas shopping later that morning (he died on December 18th). Had he been driving when the aneurysm happened he would have crashed his car and maybe taken somebody with him which of course would have been the last thing any of us would have wanted. Especially dad.
Mary Guidry 5 years ago
I had an aneurysm back in 1996 (Christmas Eve!) at age 46. So I relate. I'm very lucky my husband got me to the hospital quickly and that the neurosurgeon on call was able (with medication) to get the bleed slowed enough for me to make it to surgery to repair it. I'm massively lucky to be alive 23 years later. Everyone says my personality changed a bit, but not many aftereffects - thank goodness. I'm so sorry about your dad!
Load More Replies... Luis Milian 5 years ago
not only is she a very talented and stunning woman, she is very strong and inspiring! bless her!
Related on Bored Panda
298
41