Emilia Clarke Says She's Lucky To Be "Able To Speak" After Suffering Two Brain Aneurysms That Took Away "Quite A Bit" Of Her Brain

    "It was the most excruciating pain."

    You know Emilia Clarke from plenty of things, including Game of Thrones.

    Back in 2019, Emilia revealed that she suffered two brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013 and had to get surgery to save her life.

    During a recent appearance on BBC's Sunday Morning, Emilia went into detail about surviving the procedures and what happened to her brain as a result.

    View this video on YouTube

    BBC / Via youtube.com

    Emilia said she experienced "excruciating pain" and that starring in Game of Thrones helped "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," she said.

    "I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that.”

    Emilia also talked about seeing her brain scans after the aneurysms and realizing that "quite a bit" of her brain function had disappeared afterward.

    "Strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn’t get blood for a second, it’s gone," she said, after saying that thinking about her lower brain function "makes me laugh."

    "So the blood finds a different route to get around, but then whatever bit is missing is therefore gone.”

    Scary stuff, but it's good that Emilia feels comfortable opening up about her experience. You can watch the whole interview here.