Emilia Clarke reveals how her life-threatening diagnosis changed her perspective

Emilia Clarke got candid about her life-threatening diagnosis of the subarachnoid aneurysm in 2011 as she graced the cover of Harper’s Bazaar December/January issue.

In an interview with the publication, the Game of Thrones star, 37, revealed a heartbreaking reality that she realised during her health scare.

“I wasn’t afraid of dying. I was afraid of being fired!” she told the outlet. “I decided: ‘This is not something that’s going to define me.’”

She continued, “I never gave into any feeling of ‘Why me? This sucks.’ I was just like – gotta get back on it.’”

Clarke went on to add, “If I’m being brutally honest, the whole thing made me feel very ashamed. Like I was broken. As though the producers must think I’m an unreliable person that they’ve hired.”

Th actress shared that her diagnosis also had a great impact on how she looked at things. “If I hadn’t had a brain haemorrhage, I might have turned into a right old d*ckhead, thinking I was the bee’s knees, living in Hollywood. I’m so much more aware of what’s happening, in the moment that it’s happening.”

She continued, “I don't worry about failure – I thrive on failure! If something goes wrong, I always think you can fix it. It hurts, it’s scary, but then you can do anything.”

The actress is set to receive Bazaar’s Woman of the Year Awards on November 7, following in the footsteps of Anya Taylor-Joy.