Emilia Clarke says she had “the most excruciating pain” after living through two brain aneurysms.
But despite the scary incidents, she is thankful for both her recovery and for working on “Game of Thrones” at the time.
Emilia Clarke Reveals Parts Of Her Brain Are ‘Missing’ After Aneurysms
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“It was incredibly helpful to have ‘Game of Thrones’ sweep me up and give me that purpose,” she said during an interview with BBC’s “Sunday Morning.”
Emilia suffered through the life-threatening aneurysms in 2011 and 2013 and said that when it comes to her brain now, “there’s quite a bit missing.”
“Strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn’t get blood for a second it’s gone,” Clarke said.
“So the blood finds a different route to get around, but then whatever bit is missing is therefore gone.”
She also said with the amount of her brain that is no longer usable, “it’s remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions. I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that.”
“In my worst moments, I wanted to pull the plug,” she wrote. “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.”
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And while the surgery was traumatic, with complications, the actress has been able to return to work. Clarke, who is known for Daenerys Targaryen on the hit HBO series is currently starring in the play “The Seagull” in London’s West End.
Clarke has also created a charity, SameYou, to raise money for people recovering from brain injuries and strokes.
The life-altering medical issues also shifted the actress’s opinion on beauty, realizing that true beauty comes from within, as she told PEOPLE last year.
“The happy moments and being happy is what you’re going to see on your deathbed. You’re not going to remember the times when you took that super-cute selfie,” she said.