In a candid interview, Emilia Clarke revealed how a newspaper article critiquing her body during the early days of Game of Thrones left her emotionally shattered. Clarke, who was recovering from her first brain injury at the time, said the experience robbed her of any desire to read about herself or search her own name online.
Quick read:
- Clarke says an article about her butt “completely destroyed” her.
- The moment happened while she was recovering from a brain injury.
- She has never Googled herself since.
Clarke recalls the painful moment
Clarke described sitting in her hospital bed after her first brain aneurysm when her father read aloud a newspaper article commenting on her body. “Sitting in my hospital bed after the first brain injury, my dad was reading the newspaper of some article in it about the size of my bum. It was it was read to me and it destroyed me. Completely destroyed me,” she said. Clarke added that while the article may have intended to normalize seeing a “regular sized butt on TV,” the effect was devastating.
Why she avoids reading about herself
The experience convinced Clarke never to Google herself or read commentary about her work. “That robbed me of any desire to ever read anything about myself, and I’ve never Googled myself. You know, Game of Thrones is a racy show. There’s a lot of comments, it’s a lot of stuff. I was a kid,” she explained. Her comments underscore the vulnerability of young actors in high‑profile roles and the lasting impact of public scrutiny.
Read next: Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke and Hannah Waddingham are among Variety’s Power of Women honorees
Add WoT as a preferred source on Google.
