Emilia Clarke recalls near-death incident while filming ‘Game of Thrones'

Emilia Clarke has opened up about the terrifying moment she believed she had "cheated death" after suffering two brain haemorrhages during her time on Game of Thrones. 

Speaking on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast, the 39-year-old actress revealed that the medical emergencies left her emotionally shut down and convinced, at one stage, that she was "meant to die." 

Clarke, who rose to fame playing Daenerys Targaryen, admitted that the constant fear of her own mortality consumed her every thought following the second incident.

The first haemorrhage struck just after the first season of the hit HBO show had wrapped. 

Clarke recalled collapsing during a workout at a gym in London, describing the sensation as if an elastic band had snapped inside her head. 

As she waited for medical help, she repeatedly told herself she was "an actor" in a desperate attempt to stay conscious and protect the dream job she had only just started. 

However, the recovery was marred by a deep sense of shame, as she feared her employers would view her as "weak" or "broken" if they knew the extent of her condition.

While Clarke told showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss about her health, she kept the ordeal private from the public for years. 

Her health took another turn for the worse while she was performing on Broadway in New York, where a second aneurysm required emergency surgery that nearly claimed her life. 

She recalled the harrowing moment her parents were told by doctors every half hour that they believed she was going to die. 

This second ordeal was even more taxing, causing her to disconnect from the world as she felt her body and brain had failed her in a way no one else could perceive.

The actress admitted she gave herself very little grace during her recovery, instead viewing the illness as a personal failure. 

At one point, while promoting the show at San Diego Comic-Con shortly after surgery, she remembered thinking that if she were going to die, she would "do it on live TV." 

Despite the trauma, Clarke credited her career for helping her survive the emotional fallout, stating that she doesn't know what she would have done without her work to focus on.

Today, Clarke uses her experience to help others through her charity, SameYou, which she founded in 2019 to support brain injury survivors.

She has been candid about the profound sense of loneliness that often follows such an injury and aims to help others overcome that isolation.

Looking back on her decade-long stint on Game of Thrones, she now views the series as "lightning in a bottle" and a defining chapter of her youth.