Emilia Clarke claims Game Of Thrones bosses guilt-tripped her into doing multiple nude scenes that she wasn’t comfortable with so that she ‘didn’t disappoint fans’.
In an interview with Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert, Emilia, 33, said she hadn’t agreed to the nudity in advance but felt she should do it anyway as she was new to the industry.
Emilia said: ‘I’m a lot more savvy [now] with what I’m comfortable with, and what I am okay with doing.
‘I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, “No, the sheet stays up”, and they’re like, “You don’t wanna disappoint your Game of Thrones fans”. And I’m like, “F*** you.”‘
Pressure: Emilia Clarke claimed Game Of Thrones bosses ‘guilt-tripped her into performing multiple nude scenes so she didn’t disappoint fans’ (a still from series one – Emilia was aged 23)
Game of Thrones is a US fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and adapted from George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novels
Season one filming began in July 2010, when Emilia would have been aged 23 – she appeared on the iconic show for seven years.
Having previously said that she ‘wouldn’t redo a single part’ of her role, Emilia now admits the amount of nudity in the first season was ‘overwhelming’ and she previously admitted she had relied on alcohol to get through the scenes.
She said: ‘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!”
‘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 gonna make sense of it. Everything’s gonna be cool.’
‘So I came to terms with that beforehand, but then going in and doing it… I’m floating through this first season and I have no idea what I’m doing, I have no idea what any of this is.
What a man: Jason Momoa, who played her lover, Khal Drogo, encouraged Emilia to only do what she felt comfortable with and said the nude scenes were ‘not OK’ (picture: series one )
‘I’ve never been on a film set like this before, I’d been on a film set twice before then, and I’m now on a film set completely naked with all of these people, and I don’t know what I’m meant to do and I don’t know what’s expected of me, and I don’t know what you want and I don’t know what I want.
‘Regardless of there being nudity or not, I would have spent that first season thinking I’m not worthy of requiring anything, I’m not worthy of needing anything at all…
‘Whatever I’m feeling is wrong, I’m gonna cry in the bathroom and then I’m gonna come back and we’re gonna do the scene and it’s gonna be completely fine.’
She told The Sun in 2016 that she was overjoyed that she went ahead with the nudity but relied on a quick vodka and flattering lighting.
MailOnline has contacted a spokesperson for HBO for comment.
Jason Momoa, who played her lover, Khal Drogo, encouraged Emilia to only do what she felt comfortable with.
She said: ‘It was definitely hard. Which is why the scenes, when I got to do them with Jason, were wonderful, because he was like, “No, sweetie, this isn’t okay.” And I was like, “Ohhhh.”‘
In May last year, in an interview with US Glamour, she reflected on she did not see Khal Drogo’s body in the nude, while her character stripped fully naked.
She said: ‘Oh, I did. I saw his member’, she said. ‘But it was covered in a pink fluffy sock. Showing it would make people feel bad. It’s too fabulous.’
However, she went on to praise the show’s equal amounts of male and female nudity by recalling one of the show’s sauciest moments – which saw another of her love interests strip for the camera.
She added: ‘No, I don’t know why. But I’d like to bring your memory back to Mr. Michiel Huisman and I copulating for the first time, which began with me saying, “Take off your clothes,” and then you got to see his perfect bottom.’
She explained: ‘I love that so many women watch the show. If you look at ‘Game of Thrones’ on face value — blood, t**s, dragons, swearwords — you’re like, ‘Oh, this must be for guys.’
‘But if you take that away, the story lines are fascinating depictions of the struggle for power. And women are in on that conversation.’
Back in March, Emilia claimed she didn’t have any regrets over her nude scenes, but it appears she has since had a change of heart.
She had been given more sex scenes than any other character in season one of the popular television series.
Not impressed: Feminist critics hit out at Emilia for one particular moment where Daenerys’ clothes were burned off as she emerged from a fire (picture: series six – Emilia was aged 30)
But she told The Sun: ‘there is ‘not one part of the show I would go back and redo’.
‘People ask me the nudity question all the time. But the short answer is no, I would never change anything. You had to see those sex scenes, as they couldn’t just be explained.’
But the Mother of Dragons, who is now said to be worth a massive £9.7 million ($13 million), did receive some backlash for the raunchy scenes.
Feminist critics hit out at Emilia for one particular moment in season six of the show where Daenerys’ clothes were burned off as she emerged from a fire.
But the actress said she was trying to portray her character as ‘strong’ and ’empowered’ in the controversial scene.
‘I just wanted to come out and do an empowered scene that wasn’t sexual — it was naked, but it was strong,’ she said.
‘I get a lot of c*** for having done nude scenes and sex scenes. That, in itself, is so anti-feminist. Women hating on other women is just the problem. That’s upsetting.’
Carice van Houten, who played red priestess Melisandre, told The Telegraph she wanted to ‘normalise’ nudity on screen as long as it’s functional.
She said: ‘In Melisandre’s case, I think I can justify it because she uses sexuality as a weapon… she’s trying to manipulate.
‘I find it hypocritical that we can show people with their heads blown off, then there’s one nipple and viewers get upset.’
Lena Headey, who played Cersei Lannister told Vulture: ‘I’ve said from day one that I’ve got no problem with nudity.
Over it: In May, Emilia also revealed she turned down a role as Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades Of Grey because she was ‘sick of talking about nudity’ (Dakota Johnson pictured in the role)
‘I’ve done it throughout my career. But for this character, it’s been better for her regality and her feistiness to not bare her flesh until she has to.’
Back in May, Emilia also revealed she turned down a role as Anastasia Steele in raunchy film, Fifty Shades Of Grey because she was ‘sick of talking about nudity.’
The actress had been part of The Hollywood Reporter’s Drama Actress round table, alongside Michelle Williams, Patricia Arquette, Christine Baranski, Danai Gurira and Niecy Nash.
While she praised director Sam Taylor-Johnson, calling her a ‘magician,’ she simply did not want to get naked on camera again.
‘Well, Sam [Taylor-Johnson, the director] is a magician. I love her, and I thought her vision was beautiful. But the last time that I was naked on camera on [Game of Thrones] was a long time ago, and yet it is the only question that I ever get asked because I am a woman,’ Clarke said.
‘And it’s annoying as hell and I’m sick and tired of it because I did it for the character — I didn’t do it so some guy could check out my t*ts, for God’s sake,’ Clarke added.
‘So, that coming up, I was like, “I can’t.” I did a minimal amount and I’m pigeonholed for life, so me saying yes to that, where the entire thing is about sensuality and sex and being naked and all of that stuff,’ she said.
‘I was just like, “No way am I going to voluntarily walk into that situation and then never be able to look someone in the eye and be like, ‘No, you can’t keep asking me this question.”‘ she added.
She backed this up in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar when she said she couldn’t understand why people were going on about it.
Emilia began: ‘I’m starting to get really annoyed about this stuff now because people say, “Oh, yeah, all the porn sites went down when Game of Thrones came back on…”
‘There are so many shows centered around this very true fact that people reproduce. People f**k for pleasure—it’s a part of life.’
Emilia once said she wished there was more MALE nudity in the hit series.
She appeared on Conan in 2016, ahead of the start of the sixth season and said there should be ‘equal male and female nudity.’
She said: ‘There’s plenty of female nudity [on Game of Thrones], myself included, and I feel like… I think we should get some equal male nudity and female nudity.
‘I think it is a discussion that should be had… Free the penis.’
A month before that, she said to Glamour: ‘Bring back all the pretty boys, get them to take their trousers down, and be like, “I’m now the queen of everything! I’d like close-ups of all the boys’ penises, please.”‘
She told Rolling Stone that sexism in the industry is comparable to racism.
‘I feel so naive for saying it, but it’s like dealing with racism,’ she said. ‘You’re aware of it, and you’re aware of it, but one day, you go, “Oh, my God, it’s everywhere!”
She explained: ‘Like you suddenly wake up to it and you go, “Wait a f***ing second, are you . . . are you treating me different because I’ve got a pair of t**s? Is that actually happening?”
‘It took me a really long time to see that I do get treated differently. But I look around, and that’s my daily life.’
Tough time: Emilia said the amount of nudity in the first season was ‘overwhelming.’ and she anticipated crying in the toilets afterwards and just getting on with things (pictured on October 29)