Emilia Clarke Highlights Brain Injury Crisis and Launches SameYou Charity

At the Variety-hosted Power of Women London event, presented by Lifetime, actress Emilia Clarke was honored alongside Emma Corrin, Hannah Waddingham, Suki Waterhouse and Cynthia Erivo. Clarke used the platform to discuss surviving two brain hemorrhages in her twenties and to draw attention to systemic gaps in brain-injury aftercare.

Variety Magazine

Clarke suffered her first brain hemorrhage at age 22 while filming *Game of Thrones* and a second at age 24 during her Broadway debut. Though she returned to set within weeks, she later experienced fatigue, hormonal changes, anxiety and other symptoms that her doctors did not address. She calls the support period “a lottery,” noting many survivors receive little guidance after acute care.

Variety Magazine

• 2014 – Second brain hemorrhage occurs.

Variety Magazine

• 2019 – Clarke publicly reveals her medical history and co-founds the charity SameYou with her mother, Jenny Clarke.

Variety Magazine

• 2026 – Clarke delivers the Variety speech, emphasizing the need for comprehensive rehabilitation services.

Variety Magazine

Clarke notes that one in three people will experience a brain injury in their lifetime and that more than 15 million individuals in the United Kingdom and United States live with long-term consequences of stroke or traumatic brain injury. SameYou’s community includes tens of thousands of survivors who describe the recovery journey as “like falling off the edge of a cliff without anyone there to catch you.”

Variety Magazine

Health-care currently emphasizes acute stabilization—stopping bleeding, removing clots, and discharge—while often neglecting ongoing physical, cognitive, emotional and linguistic impairments. The shortage of neuropsychologists and specialist rehabilitation services creates a “social inequality” that leaves many survivors without adequate support, risking lost livelihoods and reduced quality of life.

Variety Magazine

Clarke says brain-injury recovery is still in its infancy and rehabilitation is usually measured in weeks, not years, focusing only on visible symptoms. She urges a major shift in health-care priorities to expand long-term neuropsychological care and to treat recovery as equally important as survival.

Variety Magazine

The sources note a lack of comprehensive data on long-term outcomes and no standardized aftercare pathways. Clarke’s remarks stress the need for additional research and funding to close these gaps.

Variety Magazine

• “For a number of years, I felt that I had cheated death, and it was coming to get me,” — Emilia Clarke, Actress

Variety Magazine

• “But what many people don’t realise is that whatever symptoms remain—physical, cognitive, emotional, linguistic—the consequence is unresolved trauma.” — Emilia Clarke, Actress

Variety Magazine

• “I often compare brain injury today to where cancer was a century ago: misunderstood, stigmatised and hidden from view.” — Emilia Clarke, Actress

Variety Magazine

• “Recovery is every bit as important as survival.” — Emilia Clarke, Actress

Variety Magazine

Clarke credits neurorehabilitation specialist David Putrino at Mount Sinai for her recent progress and says SameYou will expand peer-support networks, lobby for increased neuropsychology funding, and develop evidence-based resources to guide survivors through long-term recovery.

Variety Magazine