She may be the Mother of Dragons, but Emilia Clarke has revealed she didn’t feel powerful enough to stand up for herself when it came to filming nude scenes for Game of Thrones.
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Speaking on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Emilia – who played the fierce Daenerys Targaryen – revealed that she didn’t feel like she could say ‘no’ to the “f–k ton of nudity” in season one of the show.
“I took the job and then they sent me the scripts and I was reading them, and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s the catch!'” she said.
“But I’d come fresh from drama school and I approached it as a job, if it’s in the script then it’s clearly needed, this is what this is and I’m going to make sense of it. Everything’s going to be cool.”
But everything was far from cool, Emilia continued, admitting she would often hide in the bathroom and cry when she knew naked scenes were approaching, berating herself for feeling uncomfortable and wanting to say no.
“[I told myself], ‘Whatever I’m feeling is wrong, I’m going to cry in the bathroom and then I’m going to come back and we’re going to do the scene and it’s going to be completely fine.'”
While she tried to assert her right to stay clothed, the star felt there was pressure on her to go all the way.
“I’ve had fights onset before where I’m like, ‘No, the sheet stays up,’ and they’re like, ‘You don’t want to disappoint your Game of Thrones fans.’ And I’m like, ‘F-ck you,'” she explained.
Emilia – who was 23 when filming began – also shared that her co-star Jason Momoa was always in her corner on set.
“It was definitely hard, which is why the scenes, when I got to do them with Jason, were wonderful, because he was like, ‘No sweet, this isn’t okay.'”
“He took care of me, too. In an environment where I didn’t know I needed to be taken care of.”
The pair have remained close friends since the cult show finished up.
Last month, a recently single Emilia spoke to WHO about the struggles of living a normal life in the spotlight – in particular, how it affects her love life.
“Fame and dating is just a, forgive my French, s–t show,” she said.
“[Actor] Simon Pegg said my favourite quote about being famous. He said that ‘being famous is like wearing a stupid hat you can’t take off’. And that’s how it feels. So, imagine going on a date with a stupid hat on all the time and that person just being like, ‘There’s something…’ But I manage.”
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