The “Game of Thrones” star suffered two brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013.

Emilia Clarke was ‘convinced’ she was ‘meant to die’ after surviving 2 brain aneurysms

The "Game of Thrones" star suffered two brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013.

By Sharareh Drury

May 14, 2026 3:40 p.m. ET

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Emilia Clarke on 'How to Fail With Elizabeth Day'. Credit:

How To Fail with Elizabeth Day/YouTube

- Emilia Clarke said she felt like she "had cheated death" after surviving two life-threatening brain aneurysms.

- The *Game of Thrones *actress shared gratitude for her work on the HBO series, finding it "helpful" during her recovery.

- "There was no other option but to carry on," Clarke said of her health scares.

Emilia Clarke is opening up about her past health scare with life-threatening brain aneurysms.

While on *How to Fail With Elizabeth Day*, the 39-year-old actress reflected on the impact of her brain aneurysms amid her early *Game of Thrones *days in 2011 and 2013.

"The biggest thing that happened to me with the second one was I shut down emotionally," Clarke shared. "And it became this thing where I just couldn't look anyone in the eye."

Clarke continued that she felt the "opposite" of someone feeling positive about having survived two serious brain injuries. "I was just convinced that I had cheated death and I was meant to die and every day, that was all I could think about," Clarke said.

Emilia Clarke at Peacock's 'Ponies' premiere in 2026.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

In February 2011, Clarke suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage shortly after wrapping the first season of *Game of Thrones*. She underwent a minimally invasive emergency surgery and afterward experienced aphasia, a condition where she struggled to speak. After surgery, Clarke was told by doctors that she had a smaller aneurysm on the other side of her brain that could either burst or stay dormant. In 2013 during a routine scan, doctors saw that the second aneurysm had doubled in size. Clarke experienced complications during surgery that required doctors to open her skull.

The four-time Emmy-nominated actress said the whole ordeal made it difficult for her to "engage with the outside world."

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********"It was this, like, I'm not meant to be here. This is going to come and get me," Clarke said, adding, "You're walking around knowing that your body failed you. Your brain has failed you... and no one else can see it."

Clarke said that following her second surgery, she attended San Diego Comic-Con along with her *Game of Thrones *ensemble, which while surprising given what she had just endured, she found "helpful" in her recovery.

"Without my work, I don't know what I would have done," she noted.

Emilia Clarke on 'Game of Thrones'.

However, while at the convention, Clarke said she got a headache and "anytime I got any kind of headache, I was like, 'That's it. It's happening. It's happening again.'"

"My publicist was like, 'Right, we got to do this live interview with MTV' and I was like, 'I think I'm going to die. I think it's happening,'" Clarke remembered, then joking that if she were to die, why not let it happen on live television.

"I was blessed that after each of my brain injuries, in my mind, there was no other option but to carry on," she continued. "I was raised by a family that did not partake in pity. Self-pity was not on the table. It's not how we operated."**

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Following her second brain injury, Clarke spoke with *Game of Thrones*' David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, hoping that they wouldn't write her character Daenerys Targaryen off the show.

"They were, you know, sweet and lovely and obviously, like, 'Oh my god, are you okay?' but in my mind, I'm like, that means that you don't think I can do my job."

Clarke's role as the Mother of Dragons did not end early despite her concerns, as she ultimately remained on the HBO series until its eighth and final season.**

Watch Emilia Clarke's full interview above.

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