“Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke says she’s lucky to be alive, let alone able to speak, considering the brain damage she incurred following a pair of aneurysms while filming the hit HBO fantasy series.
“It is remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions,” she said in a BBC interview that aired on Sunday.
The 35-year-old English actress suffered one aneurysm in 2011, then another in 2013.
She explained that strokes render the affected part of the brain useless, which Clarke finds humorous in a way.
“There’s quite a bit missing, yeah, which always makes me laugh,” she said.
Clarke said that her experience “just kind of shows how little of brains we actually use.”
After suffering her aneurysms, Clarke started the charity SameYou to help others trying to rebound from such afflictions. She said she’s found peace of mind by accepting the brain function she has remaining.
“There’s no point in kind of, continually wracking your brains as to what might not be there,” she joked.
Clarke was 24 when she suffered her first aneurysm after filming the first season of “Game of Thrones,” where she continued on as one of the hit series’ biggest stars before it concluded seven seasons later in 2019. She penned an article for the New Yorker during the show’s final season, claiming there was a point during her recovery where she couldn’t envision continuing as an actor who had to memorize and recite lines.
“I could see my life ahead, and it wasn’t worth living,” she wrote.
Her resume now includes stage performances on Broadway as well as London’s West End, where she’s currently performing in a newly adapted rendition of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull.”
Clarke told the BBC that despite her setbacks, she’s now able to do a two-and-a-half-hour play every night without forgetting her lines, which is all she can ask professionally.
“It is the only skill as an actor — it’s all you have to do — you just have to remember some lines,” she said.
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