Los Angeles, Jul 18 (IANS): Hollywood star Emilia Clarke did not expect to retain her speech ability after suffering from two brain aneurysms.
Getting candid about her health troubles in a new interview, the Daenerys Targaryen of 'Game of Thrones' was surprised she was still able to speak and communicate normally despite missing parts of her brain, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Having gone through several surgeries to treat her brain aneurysms, the actress offered updates on her health during an appearance on BBC One's 'Sunday Morning'.
"The amount of my brain that is no longer usable - It's remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately," she shared her astonishment.
"And live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions," she continued in the interview airing on July 17.
She went on to express gratefulness for being one of the lucky ones, saying: "I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that."
Clarke then brought up the result of her brain scans.
"There's quite a bit missing! Which always makes me laugh," she lightheartedly spilled, adding, "Because strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn't get blood for a second, it's gone. And so the blood finds a different route to get around but then whatever bit it's missing is therefore gone."
Back in 2019, the actress said that she couldn't bear to look at her own reflection in the mirror post-surgeries.
"After my operations I didn't want to look at my own face. 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," she told Stylist magazine.
"I felt so deeply unattractive. What I can see now is that I could see the pain behind my eyes. And no amount of anything can cover that."
Clarke was reported to have suffered from aphasia following her aneurysms, which is a language disorder affecting a person's ability to communicate. At one point, the "Last Christmas" actress was even unable to recall her own name. In 2019, she launched a charity by the name of SameYou that aims to raise funds to help those recovering from brain surgeries and strokes.