Enchanting Emilia Clarke

June 19 2024

Press: Game of Thrones star: ‘Surviving brain injuries gave me a fire to keep going’

Around 1.3 million people in the UK are living with the effects of a long-term brain injury but there is a lack of awareness around them. Emilia Clarke aims to change that

PHOTOSHOOTS & OUTTAKES > 2024 > 2024 The Big Issue

BIG ISSUE Emilia Clarke asked doctors to let her die when she had her first brain injury.

She thought she would never work again. She had aphasia which affected her speech, and if she could not speak, she could not act. If she could not act, she could not live.

“I didn’t see any point in carrying on,” the actor admits. It was the beginning of 2011 and Clarke had just finished filming the first season of Game of Thrones, the epic fantasy series which catapulted her to fame in her 20s for her starring role as Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons.

It was the first of two brain aneurysms which almost killed her and changed her life.

We meet in her small London office with its big wide windows and light pouring into the room. Clarke has deep eye contact beneath those beautifully expressive eyebrows, and an enormous smile.

Beyond Game of Thrones, she has starred in films including Me Before You, Last Christmas and Solo: A Star Wars Story and had stints on stage. From an outsider’s view, she is living her dream and seems to adore life and the people around her.

So how does it make her feel that she wanted to give it all up?

“I get it. That was what it felt like at the time. I think if someone said to me today that I won’t be able to communicate, I would probably say the same thing. I can feel empathy for how I felt in that moment.”

Her mother Jenny, sitting beside her and quietly listening to what must be painful words from her daughter, points out that many people have wonderful lives after losing their ability to communicate through a brain injury. Clarke agrees passionately.

“My entire job is reflecting life and humanity. In that moment, I felt that if I couldn’t do that one thing that I can do, I couldn’t see a way through it.

“If that had happened, I would have overcome it and something transformative would have happened. But I’m not going to sit here and say for one minute that the first time someone hears that, they aren’t going to think: ‘What’s the point?’”

But there is a point. There is life beyond brain injury. There is hope.

Emilia Clarke and her mother founded their charity SameYou in 2019 to develop better mental health recovery after brain injuries and advocate for change. They are now partnering with Big Issue Recruit to support survivors and their loved ones into work with the help of BIR specialist job coaches.

“Having a chronic condition that diminishes your confidence in this one thing you feel is your reason to live is so debilitating and so lonely,” Clarke, 37, recalls.

“One of the biggest things I felt with a brain injury was profoundly alone. That is what we’re trying to overcome.”
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June 19 2024

Press: “I was just not ready”: The role Emilia Clarke called catastrophic

FAR OUT MAGAZINE It doesn’t feel like that long ago that Emilia Clarke was an unknown name in Hollywood, with the actor only taking her first steps in the industry in 2009. Even then, her roles were minor, with it taking another two years for her profile to reach a global audience thanks to the release of HBO’s fantasy behemoth Game of Thrones, which catapulted the newcomer to international acclaim.

Clarke certainly wasn’t alone in her sudden rise to stardom, as Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams were just three actors who found great success off the back of the HBO show. Unlike Williams and Turner, Clarke was a little older when she arrived in Game of Thrones’ Westeros, making her transition into other Hollywood roles that much quicker.

All while she was still working on the series, Clarke also found the time to appear alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Genisys, as well as Solo: A Star Wars Story, two films that fired her into a pair of Hollywood’s most beloved franchises. Though both films failed to catch the imagination of fans, there was no doubt that they placed Clarke in a newfound position of prosperity.

Yet, not everything during this period of time was so successful for Clarke, with the actor bravely taking to Broadway in 2013 only for things to go badly wrong. If taking to the stage is a risk in itself, playing an iconic character is even braver, with Clarke adopting the character of Holly Golightly in a stage adaptation of the 1961 Blake Edwards movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn.

Slated by critics, Clarke admitted to the BBC that her time in the role was a “catastrophic failure” before explaining, “It was just not ready. Was I ready? No, I was definitely not ready. I was a baby. I was so young and so inexperienced”.

Despite being 27 years of age when she appeared on stage, Clarke had only taken a small handful of professional roles before she was in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with Dom Hemingway being her only major feature film and Game of Thrones her only significant TV credit. Indeed, without the necessary experience and with the added pressure after becoming a household name, it’s no wonder that Clarke flopped.

Ever since Game of Thrones came to an end in 2019, Clarke has failed to find proper consistency, only finding small slices of success in Marvel’s Secret Invasion mini-series and the charming festive flick Last Christmas.

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June 18 2024

Press: Emilia Clarke Signs on With French Spirits Producer Known for Meteorite-Infused Vodka

BOTTLERAIDERS – Over a decade after its debut in 2011, “Game of Thrones” has recaptured the public’s attention with the highly anticipated second season of “House of the Dragon.” Though Emilia Clarke — the actress who plays Daenerys Targaryen — does not appear in the new show, her star power has found other ways into the headlines.

On Wednesday, Pegasus Distillerie announced Clarke as its new Global Brand Ambassador. Founded in Meursault, France, the distillery was conceived by master distiller Maxime Girardin as a tribute to the historied Burgundy region. Though the exact details of the partnership haven’t been elaborated on, we’re sure to see Clarke sipping on all manner of French spirits in months to come.

“As an actress, I pour my all into my craft, and Pegasus lends similar care and attention to detail into every bottle they produce,” Clarke said in a news release. “They create spirits in small batches prioritizing the finest organic ingredients and hand-picked botanicals and citruses from the surrounding regions. To me, this is French luxury at its finest.”

All the brand’s products revolve around a loose astronomy theme. In addition to its flagship Pegasus Vodka, the distiller produces an Orion Gin made with locally harvested thyme, verbena, orange mint and monarda alongside an Eau d’Or Liqueur made with citrus and orange blossoms.

Commemorating its entry into the American market, Pegasus recently elevated its inspirations to meteoric heights. In April, the distiller unveiled a vodka aged inside Italian terracotta pots that contained a suspended meteorite at their center. Brimming with the “unrivaled taste and structure” of chondrite, a mineral unique to meteorites, the admittedly gimmicky liquor went on sale at $200.

“I am so pleased to welcome Emilia Clarke to the Pegasus family,” Girardin said. “In many ways, I see her as an égérie, a muse – her elegance, stamina, and joie de vivre embody Pegasus’ core values and speak to the brand’s mission of savoring life to the fullest whilst creating lasting memories.”

Clarke isn’t the first in the “Game of Thrones” family to throw their hat into the alcohol market. In 2023, co-star Jason Momoa teamed up with fashion designer Blake Halvorson to launch the sustainably-produced Meili Vodka. A few months later, actor James Cosmo — portrayer of the brooding Jeor Mormont — launched a blended scotch whisky.

At its peak, the show was a goldmine for co-branded alcohol releases. Dozens of wines, beers and spirits with creative names like “Three-Eyed Raven Dark Saison Ale” and “White Walker by Johnnie Walker” flooded liquor store shelves to the delight of die-hard fans. There were a few highlights; Clynelish Reserve Game of Thrones Edition was a shockingly tasty scotch worthy of the show’s prestige reputation.

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June 15 2024

Press: Emilia Clarke Says the ‘More Distance‘ She Has from “Game of Thrones ”the More She ‘Can Quantify It’

PEOPLE – Emilia Clarke is looking back at Game of Thrones.

While chatting with PEOPLE about her new partnership with Pegasus Distillerie, the actress, 37, also recalls her time starring in the iconic HBO series, in which she portrayed Daenerys Targaryen, and how her feelings about the show have changed over the years.

Noting that it “means the world” that fans have such an attachment and appreciation for Game of Thrones, Clarke says she has been able to experience the same feelings now that the series has ended.

“The more distance I have from Game of Thrones, the more I can quantify it,” she explains. “… When I started, you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re surrounded by and you don’t know what you’re taking part in.”

“Now, as more and more time goes between it and me doing it, the more I’m like, that was incredibly special and that was incredibly rare,” Clarke adds.

Game of Thrones — based on the series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin — ran for eight seasons from 2011 to 2019.

Alongside Clarke, others who starred heavily in the series included Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kit Harington, Peter Dinklage, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and Isaac Hempstead Wright, to name a few.

During the show’s run, Clarke was nominated for four Emmys — in the outstanding supporting actress in a drama series category in 2013, 2015 and 2016, and in the outstanding lead actress in a drama series category in 2019.

Other award nominations that Clarke amassed during the series’ run included nods at the SAG Awards, Saturn Awards, People’s Choice Awards and the Critics’ Choice Television Awards. She was also named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2019.

Clarke recently founded her own production company, Magical Thinking Pictures, and said that the experience helped open her eyes to the behind-the-scenes processes that made Game of Thrones what it was.

“Oh my God, I really understand how the sausage is made now,” the actress tells PEOPLE with a laugh.

Detailing that “sometimes” it is done “in a way that is quite frustrating,” Clarke continues. “It makes me see even more just how lightning in a bottle that was and how fortunate I was to have that as part of my experience as an actor.”

“I was just incredibly, incredibly lucky to have had that experience, 100 percent,” she adds.

House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel series, returns to HBO on Sunday, June 16, at 9 p.m. EST.

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June 12 2024

Press: Emilia Clarke Details Her Ideal Night Spent with Family and Friends

Emilia Clarke Details Her Ideal Night Spent with Family and Friends: ‘I Always Love the Doing of Things’

PEOPLE Emilia Clarke loves to let the good times roll with loved ones.

“As someone who travels a lot for her work, I really try to live my life to the fullest with my friends and family when I do have time,” the actress, 37, tells PEOPLE as part of her partnership with Pegasus Distillerie. “Those times are incredibly precious to me. So I always love the doing of things.”

Her list of go-to activities is long — and sometimes includes alcohol. (Pegasus Distillerie’s portfolio include Pegasus Vodka, the Eau d’Or Liqueur and the Orion Gin, which Clarke counts as one of her favorite drinks from the brand.)

“When I’m drinking, it’s because I am celebrating being with family and friends, or I’m celebrating an occasion, or whatever it is,” Clarke says.

“I love hanging out in the pub, but I also love going to a comedy show or going out to an amazing restaurant,” she adds, “or going to the theater or getting on a boat and going down the Thames, or going on holiday, making fun plans. Activities are always something that I love doing with my friends and family.”

The locations have changed as she’s aged. “I love going out with my friends, definitely. I love going to restaurants,” she says. “As I’ve gotten older, you switch the club for a very lovely restaurant. And then with my family, it’s more like when we’ve got a bunch of us there, so that would be at home.”

One part of her hangouts that is a necessity no matter who she is spending time with, Clarke says, is having “a perfectly crafted playlist” — which she calls “a thing of wonder.”

“When people first come around, you want something mellow, something chill, something with a beat, like feeling good music, but nothing too intense. And then as the night goes on, then you are kind of craving something a little bit more like, get up and go,” she explains. “Then, as the night wears down, you want something really mellow and really chill.”

Clarke teamed with Pegasus Distillerie to become their new Global Brand Ambassador, a role she is “really excited about.” The premium organic spirits brand was founded in France but now sells bottles directly to consumers via its website. (It also has spirits distributed in New York, California and Florida.)

Pegasus Distillerie recently launched a new limited edition meteorite-infused ultra-premium vodka, aptly named Shooting Star, which Clarke teases is “delicious” and “so good.”

“I just love the company,” she says. “Craftsmanship is at the heart of what they do, and they care so deeply about the ingredients that are in their products and how they’re made. I really value that … as someone who enjoys a drink.”

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