Meet the first theme park of “Game of Thrones” 0:40
(CNN) --
Emilia Clarke says she was in "the most excruciating pain" after suffering two brain aneurysms, but she's grateful both for her recovery and for working on "Game of Thrones" at the time.
"It was incredibly helpful that 'Game of Thrones' helped me and gave me that purpose," he said during an interview with the BBC's "Sunday Morning."
The actress suffered life-threatening aneurysms in 2011 and 2013 and said of her brain that it is now "quite lacking".
Emilia Clarke poses on the red carpet upon arrival at The Fashion Awards 2019 in London on December 2, 2019.
"Strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn't get blood for a second, it's gone," Emilia Clarke said.
"So the blood finds a different route to move, but then what's missing is gone."
He also said that with how much of his brain is no longer usable, "it's remarkable that I can speak, articulately at times, and live my life totally normally with absolutely no repercussions. I'm in the very, very, very small minority of people who can survive that."
Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen in the hit HBO series, is currently starring in the play "The Seagull" in London's West End.
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