Emilia Clarke says that portions of her brain do not work after having suffered two aneurysms during her time playing Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones in 2011 and 2013. The actor opened up about her health status during a new interview with BBC One’s Sunday Morning.
“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 told the outlet. “I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that.”
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Clarke first revealed that she dealt with the health scares in 2019, while reflecting on her time working on HBO’s hit series. Following the aneurysms, she was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that affects a person’s ability to communicate.
As for how much damage was done to her brain, Clarke explained, “There’s quite a bit missing! Which always makes me laugh. Because strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn’t get blood for a second, it’s gone. And so the blood finds a different route to get around but then whatever bit it’s missing is therefore gone.”
Clarke says that at one point, she was unable to even recall her own name. She’s since launched the charity, SameYou, to raise money for neuro-rehabilitation after brain injuries and strokes.
[Via]