Emilia Clarke, 33, opened up about her anxiety battles to Jessie Ware on her podcast Table Manners. The Game of Thrones actress revealed she suffers from panic attacks, and experienced one recently whilst she was walking through an airport.
Emilia said during the panic attack, where she struggled to breath, a fan approached her and asked to take a selfie with her.
She told Jessie on the podcast: “I was genuinely walking through an airport and I suddenly starting having what I can only believe to be a panic attack brought on by complete exhaustion.
“I was on my own. I was on the phone to my mum saying, ‘I feel like I can’t breathe. I don’t know what’s going on’.”
“I’m there and the tears are coming out,” she continued. “She went on to say that this was when a fan thought it was the perfect opportunity to ask her for a selfie.”
Recalling the moment, Emilia said: “This guy’s like, ‘Can I get a selfie?’ And I was like, ‘I can’t breathe, I’m really sorry. Just having a minute’.
“It was after a few moments like that where I was like, ‘I don’t know how to do this’.”
Emilia explained the incident made her think about the way she interacts with her fans, revealing she’d rather sign an autograph to engage on a more personal level.
“Then you have a chat and you’re actually having a truthful human-to-human thing, as opposed to it being this other thing that probably isn’t nice for them and isn’t nice to you,” she said.
“When you do a signing thing, you can actually look into their eyes and have a proper real human thing.”
Earlier this month, Emilia spoke out about not wanting to be recognised whilst she was in hospital.
The British star suffered two brain aneurysms during her early years on Game of Thrones, which she only made public back in March.
With the second one, Emilia had began to reach worldwide fame with her role in Game of Thrones as the Mother of Dragons.
Emilia said she was worried she was going to be recognised during her time in hospital in the United States.
The Mother of Dragons favourite opened up about the horrendous time in her life to Wonderland magazine, spilling: “[With] the second one, I lost a lot of hope; I lost a lot of optimism. That’s insane bad luck.
“But there I was in a f***ing American hospital with drains coming out of my head, fully swollen, full of all the drugs they give you, and all I could think was, ‘please don’t recognise me, please don’t recognise me, please don’t recognise me’.”
Emilia said she understands the fame side comes with her job, but noted struggles she has experienced while out and about during tough times in her life.
She continued: “This is where you very quickly sound like a complete f***king d**k because we signed up for this, we asked for this, it’s part of the job.
“And then you’re in a shopping centre with your mum who is crying over your recently dead dad and someone comes up and asks you for a picture and you say no and they’re like, ‘I expected better from you, I thought more of you than that’.”
In the summer this year, Emilia revealed she had set up a charity, SameYou, which helps raise money for people recovering from brain injuries and strokes.