Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is revealing how the show helped her to recover from two life-threatening brain aneurysms.
The Emmy-nominated actress recently penned an essay about the terrifying process of recovering from the near-fatal brain damage, during which time she briefly couldn’t coherently speak or even remember her own name.
During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Emilia explained that she actually kept her mind active by studying her lines in the Dothraki language from Game of Thrones.
“I genuinely knew I was being brain-damaged,” Clarke explained. “I don’t know how. I must have in some – because you’re incredibly ill, and you’ve got this incredibly, just horrific, horrific headache and being violently ill – at some point in my life, I knew that that meant brain damage.
“So I just tried to keep as active as possible. Move my fingers, my toes, my hands, and ask myself questions. Dothraki lines. Genuinely, genuinely trying to remember. Like, really trying to force my memory to work as much as I could to stay conscious.”
MARK RALSTONGetty Images
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
Clarke also reflected on how the near-death reshaped her outlook on life, or more accurately, how it didn’t!
“I wish I could sit here and say I was just like, ‘Let’s go… jump out of a plane!’ I really wasn’t. But I did do Game of Thrones instead, which is sort of quite similar in certain seasons.”
Game of Thrones season 8 will premiere on April 14, 2019. The show airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK. Season 7 is now available to buy on DVD, Blu-ray or digital download.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit ‘Like’ on our Digital Spy Facebook page and ‘Follow’ on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.
