Emilia Clarke is recognized as one of the most beautiful and famous actresses of her generation. She’s managed to charm legions of fans from all over the world with her now iconic role as the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, in the megahit HBO show, Game of Thrones.
But it’s a different story behind closed doors. The 32-year-old British actress has recently opened up about her terrifying experience dealing with the aftermath of two brain aneurysms.
Post-Surgery Woes
It was 2011 and the then-24-year-old ingenue was at the cusp of world stardom when her time in the spotlight was threatened. As aneurysms go, her sudden illness was completely unexpected and caught Clarke, who was busy shooting Game of Thrones at the time, off guard.
Having to get emergency operations to address her delicate condition, the actress ended up with a very swollen face after coming home from the hospital.
While she now knows that her looks were only temporarily affected, she revealed that she felt ‘deeply unattractive’ because of it. Definitely not a good thing to experience for someone who’s job somewhat relies on their looks and having an expressive face.
At the time, Clarke refused to look herself in the mirror even while doing her makeup. She hated seeing the pain in her eyes and being unable to cover them up, Clarke said.
Recent Revelations
The bubbly actress revealed all these long-kept info on her private life in a personal essay she wrote herself for The New Yorker last March. According to the piece, the aneurysms happened while Clarke was working out. She was immediately admitted to a hospital where she had to go through a three-hour surgery.
Fortunately, she was able to pull through. And after spending a month recovering, she was up and back on the Game of Thrones set. But her scary ordeal didn’t end there.
She had just wrapped up filming the show’s third season when a brain scan discovered that she had had a bigger aneurysm. This meant that she would have to go under the knife again. Things got much harder the second time around.
Clarke revealed that some parts of her skull had to be replaced with titanium which led to her being confined for another month. Not surprisingly, the actress taught it was the end of her acting career as she temporarily lost the ability to speak.
But life had better plans for her…
Less is More
As you may know, it’s been more than six years since her last brush with death and she seems to be stronger than ever.
What more, her past experiences enabled her to be kinder to herself when it comes to her looks. Her face didn’t change but her feelings towards beauty sure did and for the better.
Clarke says that she wears less makeup these days and says she’s happy and finally content with what she sees when looking at the mirror.