Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has spoken about her life after suffering two brain aneurysms during the filming of the fantasy series.
Clarke was speaking to UK TV show Sunday Morning about her health troubles after the aneurysms she suffered in 2011 and in 2013.
Clarke told the show hosts she had "quite a bit" of her brain missing after emergency surgeries, and said it was "remarkable" she was still able to speak.
"It was the most excruciating pain," Clarke said of the aneurysm and subsequent recovery. "It was incredibly helpful to have Game of Thrones sweep me up and give me that purpose."
"The amount of my 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," Clarke stated.
"I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that."
Clarke said she'd seen scans of her brain after the incidents.
"There's quite a bit missing. Which always makes me laugh… Strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn't get blood for a second, it's gone. So the blood finds a different route to get around, but then whatever bit is missing is therefore gone."
In 2019, Clarke shared details of how it affected her life in an article for The New Yorker, revealing she was just 24 years old when she was floored by a terrible headache during a workout with a personal trainer.
"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," she wrote.
"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."
Following the operation, Clarke revealed she suffered from aphasia, a language impairment condition that saw her unable to remember her own name.
Since the surgeries and her recovery, Clarke has created a charity for brain injury and stroke victims called SameYou.
