Fears “quadrupled” due to illness: Why “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke wanted to die after her brain injury.
When Emilia Clarke (37) suffered a brain hemorrhage, she wasn’t so afraid of death. What was worse was her fear of being fired from “Game of Thrones”. The actress emphasized this repeatedly in interviews. Now the actress who plays Daenerys Targaryen has explained again why she was more concerned about her dismissal than her death.
A brain injury changes one’s self-image “in a dramatic way,” Emilia Clarke told the magazine. As a result, “all the insecurities that one goes into the workplace with quadruple overnight,” she said.
She begged the doctors to let her die
The first thought she had after the surgery was, “Oh my God, am I going to get fired? Am I going to get fired because they think I’m not capable of doing the job?” This fear was so great that Clarke says she begged the doctors to let her die.
But Emilia Clarke overcame the dark thoughts and went back to the set. But in front of colleagues and cameras, her fears rose again. The Brit feared that a second brain aneurysm could burst due to all the stress – and that she could die from the bleeding. But: “If I have to die, I’d rather do it live on TV,” she thought at the time.
Emilia Clarke is committed to helping those affected
After filming the first season of “Game of Thrones” in 2011, Emilia Clarke suffered her first ruptured blood vessel in her brain. She was just 24 years old at the time. The bleeding caused a stroke. In 2013, she had to undergo another operation to remove another aneurysm, which also caused a stroke.
The actress was temporarily unable to speak. However, she has no long-term impairments. This means that she belongs to a “really, really, really small minority” of those affected, as she once said in a BBC interview.
Together with her mother Jennifer Clarke, Emilia Clarke founded the charity SameYou in 2019. It supports the mental health of people who have suffered a brain injury. Because: “One of the biggest feelings I had after the brain injury was a deep loneliness,” she told “Big Issue”. “That’s what we’re trying to overcome.” For this attempt, Emilia and Jennifer Clarke were appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Prince William (41) in February 2024.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
