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Emilia Clarke Reveals She Had Two Aneurysms During ‘Game Of Thrones’ Filming

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Emilia Clarke revealed that she had two aneurysms during the time she was filming “Game of Thrones” in a personal essay published Thursday by The New Yorker.

She experienced her first aneurysm right after the first season of the HBO hit wrapped, according to Page Six. Clarke wrote she always thought she was healthy growing up but, after the first aneurysm, that all changed.

“Just when all my childhood dreams seemed to have come true, I nearly lost my mind and then my life,” Clarke wrote.

Clarke suffered her first aneurysm in February of 2011 while working out with her trainer. After being taken to the hospital, Clarke’s MRI showed she had suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). She spent four days in the hospital after receiving a minimally invasive procedure to seal off the aneurysm. (RELATED: The Final ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season Comes Out In Exactly One Month)

Clarke experienced aphasia, a condition affecting the language center of the brain, after her first surgery. After a month in the hospital, she struggled to return to work on the “Game of Thrones” set. “Every minute of every day I thought I was going to die,” Clarke wrote.

Clarke would be required to get annual brain scans following her first aneurysm. In 2013, the doctors realized another aneurysm they had found during Clarke’s first operation had grown and now required an operation.

“When they woke me, I was screaming in pain. The procedure had failed,” Clarke wrote. “I had a massive bleed and the doctors made it plain that my chances of surviving were precarious if they didn’t operate again.”

She did survive. Despite having a scare a couple weeks post-surgery during a Comic-Con appearance, Clarke recovered completely.

“In the years since my second surgery I have healed beyond my most unreasonable hopes,” Clarke wrote. “I am now at one hundred percent.”