Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke reveals she feared being fired after brain bleed

Emilia Clarke has revealed she was worried she could be fired from her role in Game of Thrones following a brain injury.

The 37-year-old actress has previously described how she thought she was going to die after suffering a bleed on her brain while at the gym in 2011.

During her time starring in Game of Thrones as Daenerys Targaryen in 2013, doctors found a second brain hemorrhage.

The actor kept her injury a secret, worried bosses might think she was incapable of doing her job.

“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 in an interview with The Big Issue.

“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?’”

She returned to work within weeks of her first hemorrhage, and said the pressure of being in front of thousands of people and cameras made her fear she was going to suffer another bleed.

She remembered thinking: “Well, if I’m going to die, I better die on live TV.”

After recovering from her injuries, Clarke and her mother Jenny set up a charity called 'SameYou' to help people with brain injuries. They were both made MBEs earlier this year for their work.

Rehab has become one of the charity's biggest focuses, after Clarke previously revealed she was shocked by how understaffed services can be.

A new survey of 327 brain injury survivors found that out of 189 who returned to work post-injury, 37% said they did not feel ready.

Half (53%) of those who returned to work had to do so because of financial reasons and around a quarter (27%) said they felt pressure from their employer to return to work.

SameYou is now working with the Big Issue to help survivors return to work.

Co-founder Jenny Clarke said: “This research clearly highlights the many complex challenges that people who have experienced a brain injury face when going back to work.

“Survivors have reported pressures to return before they are ready, as well as problems with financial difficulties, benefits and even an increased risk of homelessness."

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