Game Of Thrones' star Emilia Clarke, has shared some emotional, raw and candid photos of her recovery from her initial brain aneurysm at the age of just 24.
The GoT , who plays Khaleesi, star was on the cusp of fame, having just completed filming the first series of the hit HBO series when she suffered a bleed on the brain, which left her in intensive care.
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This weekend she shared previously unseen pictures from her time in hospital, with one intimate photo showing tubes coming out of her head
Emilia, now 32, revealed the images during an interview on America's CBS Sunday Morning, during which she spoke openly about how she bounced back from the initial aneurysm.
Emilia was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), a life-threatening type of stroke potentially caused by a brain aneurysm.
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After five days in intensive care, Emilia managed to recover, go back home and return to work
But in 2013 she had to undergo a second brain surgery which failed and caused another brain bleed that almost killed her.
It meant she had to go under the knife for a third time for another life-saving operation.
Emilia survived but confessed she lost hope and her mental health suffered after the second brain bleed.
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She told CBS Sunday Morning: "The first time it was difficult, with the second one I found it much harder to stay optimistic.
"[I coped with it as a] a day to day thing. I definitely went through a period of being... down - putting it mildly....
"In my worst moments, I wanted to pull the plug. I asked the medical staff to let me die. My job - my entire dream of what my life would be - centred on language, on communication. Without that, I was lost."
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Thankfully she managed to recover and felt that going back to Game of Thrones to play warrior queen Daenerys Targaryen helped put her mental health.
She confessed: "You go on the set, and you play a badass character, and you walk through fire, and you speak to hundreds of people, and you're being asked to be - to work as hard as you possibly can.
"And that became the thing that just saved me from considering my own mortality, yeah."
Featured Image Credit: CBS Sunday MorningTopics: Celebrity News, TV News, TV Entertainment, Celebrity Entertainment