Emilia Clarke is opening up about her fears associated with her life-threatening condition, including its impact on her potential children.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 10: Actress Emilia Clarke attends the premiere of HBO’s “Game Of Thrones” Season 6 at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 10, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
The 39-year-old actress suffers from a hereditary arterial weakness, and it has caused her to have two brain hemorrhages, meaning she has had bleeding in or around the brain as a result of a burst blood vessel.
Appearing on a recent episode of the “Dear Chelsea” podcast, Emilia told host Chelsea Handler, “I was born with a weakness in my arteries that’s hereditary. If I were to have a baby, I’d be like, ‘Get that baby in an MRI machine immediately so I can see if it has it.'”
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 10: Actress Emilia Clarke attends the premiere of HBO’s “Game Of Thrones” Season 6 at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 10, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
The “Game of Thrones” alum said there is nothing to prevent brain hemorrhages, but she does not “take drugs, do stuff that’s going to raise your blood pressure, [or] work too hard” to decrease her risk of triggering one.
The star suffered her first brain aneurysm, a swelling in a blood vessel in the brain, in 2011 after she filmed the first season of “Game of Thrones.”
And Emilia, who is best known for playing Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO fantasy series, admitted that the recovery was “non-existent because I didn’t have time.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 01: (EDITORS NOTE: Image contains nudity.) Emilia Clarke attends the Global Gift Gala London 2025 at the Kimpton Fitzroy Hotel on November 01, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
She recalled, “I was in the gym. It was a massive shock. I was rushed to the hospital. They saved my life. I then was in the hospital for three weeks, and they couldn’t tell HBO for two weeks until they knew I wasn’t going to die, that this happened. And I got to the hospital, and in my lucid moments, I was trying to pull out the wires to be like, ‘I gotta get to work. What are you doing?’ And so they saved my life, the incredible NHS.”
Clarke continued, “And then I had like six weeks, maybe. And then I was on my first-ever press tour with morphine. It was super, super intense, but having ‘Game of Thrones’ and having the job was the thing that got me through.”
In 2013, Emilia suffered another brain aneurysm due to a surgical procedure going wrong.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 26: Emilia Clarke attends French Premium Organic Spirits Brand Pegasus Distillerie Launches In The U.S. Market, Marking The Occasion With an Exclusive Party on April 26, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Pegasus Distillerie US Launch Event)
The “Solo: A Star Wars Story” alum said, “That resulted in a much bigger bleed. I had this big scar. They had to crack my head open.”
Emilia insisted she is in a “very good spot” now because she gets her “brain scanned every year” and adds, “I’m in like 0.001 percent of people who survive what I’ve had without any real repercussions.”
Elsewhere in the podcast episode, Emilia shockingly revealed that she has worked despite having serious injuries.
The “Secret Invasion” star shared, “Broken ribs, broken hips. I did a whole job without realizing I’d broken my hip. The show must go on.”
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