Actress Emilia Clarke has described how she thought she was going to be fired from Game of Thrones after she had a brain injury. The 37-year-old said that after a person survives a brain injury their workplace insecurities “quadruple overnight”. She said she thought she was going to be sacked from her starring role in the hit fantasy series because she was scared that show bosses would think she was not capable of doing her job.
Emilia Clarke’s charity SameYou has partnered with the Big Issue to help people with brain injuries return to work (Big Issue/PA) She has said she did not want to go public about her brain injury, and largely kept it a secret from her Game Of Thrones colleagues. Medics discovered a second brain haemorrhage in 2013 – while she was still acting as Daenerys Targaryen on the hit series. In a new interview with the Big Issue, she has discussed the difficulties in returning to work after a brain injury.
“When you have a brain injury, because it alters your sense of self on such a dramatic level, all of the insecurities you have going into the workplace quadruple overnight,” Clarke said. “The first fear we all had was: ‘Oh my God, am I going to get fired? Am I going to get fired because they think I’m not capable of completing the job?’” After recovering from her injuries, Clarke and her mother Jenny set up a charity to help people with brain injuries. The mother and daughter duo were made MBEs earlier this year for their work setting u.
