Emilia Clarke Spoke About Struggling With Her Appearance After Brain Surgery

Emilia Clarke has recently opened up about the incredibly difficult health issues she suffered from in 2011. The Game Of Thrones actress revealed that she suffered a stroke as a result of a brain aneurysm and had to undergo two brain surgeries when she was just 24.

Now, she’s speaking about how her confidence dropped and she began to feel differently about her appearance following her time in hospital.

“I was so full of drugs from being in the hospital that I had a lot of water retention, and one half of my face was quite swollen,I felt so deeply unattractive,” she recalled.

“After my operations, I didn’t want to look at my own face. I don’t normally, but all my emotions were heightened. When I looked in the mirror, I just saw pain in my eyes. I found it very, very difficult,” she told Stylist Magazine.

“I used to put on make-up without looking in the mirror, which probably made me look a lot worse.”

This was all happening just after the first season of Game of Thrones came out, on which she was playing Daenerys Targaryen.

She opened up about feeling beautiful when she was in character.

“I will never look as good as I did when I was playing Daenerys. I had the best professionals in the world doing my hair and make-up and costumes, and there is really not much I can do about it. I can’t ever get my hair to look like Daenerys’. It’s a heartbreak, but I’ve had to come to terms with that.”

Now as Game Of Throne’s comes to and end, and almost eight years after her health scare, Emilia says her relationship with makeup has changed.

“When you can look at yourself in the eyes and feel OK with what’s looking back at you, then what more do you need?” she said.

“I always err on the side of wearing less make-up, my face didn’t change, but my feelings about myself changed.”

• Emilia Clarke