Emilia Clarke Talking About Game of Thrones in Variety Video
Emilia Clarke Explains How Daenerys Saved Her Life After Brain Surgery: "I Could Only See Her"
Earlier this year, Emilia Clarke revealed for the first time that she had suffered two severe brain aneurysms while filming the first few seasons of Game of Thrones. Though she went on to have several life-saving procedures, while recently speaking with Regina Hall in her Variety Actors on Actors interview series, Clarke also credited her survival to the show.
"I always say Daenerys literally saved my life. It puts you in quite the headspace when you've had a brain injury. So, walking in her shoes, I just put so much more into each season because it really was life or death," Clarke said. The actress portrayed the beloved character throughout the show's eight seasons, though she admittedly always harbored the fear that she'd get killed off in earlier seasons.
Clarke went on to tell Hall, "I felt so powerfully that she was saving me that I couldn't see anything else. I could only see her. I could only see the show. That was my single point of focus that allowed me to not think about anything scarier than just getting on set and learning some fake languages." Watch the vulnerable exchange above.
