Actress Emilia Clarke is opening up about her health struggles, revealing she suffered two brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013. The Game of Thrones star, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, detailed the life-threatening experiences in a lengthy personal essay for The New Yorker.
The 32-year-old actress revealed she suffered her first aneurysm after filming the first season of the hit HBO series.
“Just when all my childhood dreams seemed to have come true, I nearly lost my mind and then my life,” writes Clarke in the essay.
After becoming “violently, voluminously” ill during a workout and collapsing in the locker room of a North London gym, Clarke says she was transported to a hospital, where she was ultimately diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. A stroke caused by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain, the condition is often fatal.
Following a minimally invasive surgery for her first aneurysm, Clarke suffered a second in 2013 while in New York where she was appearing on Broadway as Holly Golightly. After a second, fully-invasive operation, the actress went through a recovery period “even more painful” than her first, during which she experienced anxiety and panic attacks.
“At certain points, I lost all hope,” she wrote.
While Clarke has previously been reluctant to share her experience, she said she is now ready to open up about about her health issues, and has even developed a charity called SameYou dedicated to helping individuals recovering from brain injuries and strokes.
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