(Image credit: HBO)

Game of Thrones’ fandom has continued in the years following the show ending, as fans of the books and show look forward to the release of House of the Dragon Season 3. Among the hype, HotD has also brought some attention back to the original cast of Game of Thrones, as people are still very interested in their lives after the show’s conclusion. Some such cast members include Daenerys Targaryen actress, Emilia Clarke.

The Internet can be a bit of the Wild West when it comes to comments, and actors involved in highly watched and heavily talked about programs can often get the brunt end of that. And I’m not even getting into how Tik Tok and Youtube often host videos or promotional clips showing actors reacting to the things people have googled — which is meant to open a dialogue about their experiences. Speaking about what people have said online on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Emilia Clarke was quoted saying people heavily scrutinized her and her body.

The reason why I don’t Google myself, I learnt it very early and I don’t look at all ever, ever, ever was because when I did after Season 1, I just saw articles about like how fat my ass was, why would a girl ever do this? And I’m like, ‘you know what? I’m a kid, man! Cut me some goddamn slack.

Clarke herself has been outwardly vocal about her experiences on and off of set. She has spoken out about some of the pressure she received when it came to the early Game of Thrones nudity scenes on the show. She has also shared details in the past about Jason Momoa coming to her aid when she didn’t know what to expect about filming scenes sans clothing on a TV set. But it wasn’t just stuff on set that happened that was really uncomfortable for her when she was still really young, or as she put it, basically still “a kid” filming Game of Thrones.

The success of HotD has reignited old discussions that were left over from its predecessor. This included conversations regarding the writing, pacing, violence, and as expected, the nudity and graphic nature of the show’s content. While people like Clarke have found some fun and humor in filming nude scenes for the show, she also said it was necessary the show handled her character in the way it did.

But the thing was that, with this character, I’ve had so many people say so many different things to me about the nudity thing. About specifically Khaleesi’s nudity in the show. And people wouldn’t care if you hadn’t seen her be abused. You wouldn’t fucking care. You had to see it.

During of the height of her success on GoT, Clarke felt anxious whenever she was approached for selfies with fans because of the public responses to her performance on the show. Clarke stated that looking at social media messed with her head, and she felt herself thinking negatively about her outward appearance. She stated that it kept her from entangling her self-worth with public perceptions. So, Clarke made the rule for herself to only do autographs and not google herself to minimize her anxiety.

While Emilia Clarke isn’t the first actress of a major fandom to outwardly speak about the negative impacts the Internet has had on her mental health, thankfully she has found solutions that work for her so she can continue in the industry.