Emilia Clarke’s Brain Aneurysm

Emilia Clarke filmed battle scenes for Game of Thrones, but in 2019, she published an essay in The New Yorker titled “A Battle for My Life.”

Emilia Clarke experienced severe headaches while at the gym, leading to a critical moment where she became violently ill. She described the pain as “shooting, stabbing, constricting,” and realized her brain was suffering damage.

She was promptly taken to the hospital for a brain scan.

The diagnosis came swiftly: a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), a dangerous type of stroke caused by bleeding around the brain. Emilia revealed she had suffered an aneurysm, an arterial rupture.

Immediate surgery was performed to seal the aneurysm, which she described as “unbearable” pain. During her recovery, she faced aphasia and found herself “muttering nonsense.”

A week later, Emilia reported that the aphasia subsided, and she was discharged from the hospital a month after her admission.

During a 2013 brain scan, it was discovered that a growth had “doubled in size,” necessitating another surgery.

“When they woke me, I was screaming in pain,” she recounted. “The procedure had failed. I had a massive bleed and the doctors made it clear that my chances of survival were precarious if they didn’t operate again. This time they needed to access my brain in the traditional manner—through my skull.”

Fortunately, Emilia stated that she is now “at a hundred percent.”