Emilia Clarke has spoken publicly for the first time about the two life-threatening brain aneurysms she suffered while filming Game of Thrones. The 32-year-old actress passed out during a workout and an MRI scan revealed she had an aneurysm, requiring urgent surgery. In an article for the New Yorker, Clarke wrote that at times she could not recall her own name, saying, 'In my worst moments, I wanted to pull the plug. I asked the medical staff to let me die.'
Sharon Stone also experienced a brain aneurysm in 2001, which she says changed her perspective on ageing. The Basic Instinct actress told The Hollywood Reporter that she spent two years learning to walk and talk again. 'I came home from that stroke stuttering, couldn't read for two years,' she explained. 'I was in an ICU for nine days and the survival rate for what I went through is very low.'
Rock legend Neil Young detailed his aneurysm in his memoir, recalling a doctor telling him, 'The bad news is, you've got an aneurysm in your brain... it's very serious, so we'll have to get rid of it right away.' After complications led to him being revived in the street, Young decided to quit drugs for good.
Bret Michaels, lead singer of Poison, spoke about his 2010 aneurysm, telling People, 'I knew I was slurring my words, and I was like, “OK, this isn’t a headache. There’s something really bad happening.”' He expressed gratitude for being alive after surgery.
Jazz musician Quincy Jones survived an aneurysm in 1974 and even attended his own memorial service. Despite being told he would never play the trumpet again, he went on to produce Michael Jackson's Thriller and the charity single We Are the World. At 85, he wrote, 'I can truthfully say that I’ve attended my own funeral at age 41 & my own birthday celebration at 85, & I’d take the second over the first, any time!!'
