Emilia Clarke commanded attention in a sheer black gown—and, according to netizens, appeared to debut a new face.
The Game of Thrones actress attended the Global Gift Gala on Saturday (November 1) at the Kimpton Fitzroy Hotel in London.
Emilia, who served as the Honorary Chair of the event, wore a floor-length Alexander McQueen dress featuring lace and ruffled detailing across the bodice and a ruffled skirt.
Emilia Clarke sparked conversation about her appearance after her latest red carpet event
Image credits: Getty/Phillip Faraone
The 39-year-old styled her hair down and parted to the side, completing the look with gold earrings and a berry-toned lipstick.
While many agreed that Emilia looked stunning, some social media users remarked that there was something different about her appearance.
“Same surgeries, same Hollywood face. It’s a crime against humanity,” wrote one user on X (formerly Twitter).
“I’m so confused why does this look like AI?” another person asked.
“She’s lovely but I worry she’s doing cosmetic things that she doesn’t need to do,” read another comment.
The actress turned heads at the Global Gift Gala, wearing a sheer black Alexander McQueen gown
Others remarked that the British star resembled Miley Cyrus and Emily Blunt.
Asked how her perception of beauty has changed over the years, Emilia told People, “As I got older, I realized that people are at their most beautiful when they’re not thinking about themselves and considering their own beauty.”
Though she uses wrinkle-correcting serum and other preventive skincare products, she shared that she’s not the type to get “serious stuff done” to her face to fight the aging process.
She said her two reasons for avoiding plastic surgery and cosmetic injectables are fear and the concern that a changed appearance could affect her work. “I can’t do my job if I can’t move my face,” she explained, adding that surgery “makes you look weird.”
The gala marked Emilia’s first red carpet outing in over a year, following her appearance at the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain in July 2024 and the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year event in November 2023, as per Us Weekly.
Emilia attended the gala alongside her mother, Jenny Clarke, as their charity SameYou was honored at the event. SameYou supports individuals recovering from brain injuries by providing emotional, social, and physical rehabilitation programs.
Emilia survived two life-threatening brain hemorrhages while working on the Game of Thrones series, and told her story in 2019 to launch the charity.
Many said Emilia looked noticeably different and speculated about cosmetic procedures
“In early 2011 I was struck by the first of two brain hemorrhages. I am hardly unique or alone in that. 1 in 3 people will suffer a brain injury in their lifetime,” the actress explained.
She first suspected something was wrong during a workout with her trainer, describing the sensation as feeling like “an elastic band was squeezing” her brain.
Emilia was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a life-threatening type of stroke involving bleeding in the space between the brain and the membrane that covers it.
The Game of Thrones star previously said she thinks plastic surgery makes people look “weird”
The London-born star underwent a three-hour, “minimally invasive” brain surgery. Shortly afterward, she suffered from a frightening bout of aphasia (difficulty with language or speech) and was unable to recall her own name for about a week.
After recovering, she was able to return to work as normal. However, two years later, during one of her regular brain scans, doctors discovered that her second aneurysm had doubled in size.
Emilia then underwent two additional operations, the second of which went “through my skull,” the actress described.
“The recovery was even more painful than it had been after the first surgery,” she explained to The New Yorker. “I looked as though I had been through a war more gruesome than any that Daenerys experienced.”
Emilia revealed that she had “lost all hope” during her worst moments and was convinced she wasn’t going to live. Fortunately, in the years since her second surgery, she has healed “beyond my most unreasonable hopes.”
Some commenters compared her appearance to Miley Cyrus or Emily Blunt, while others said she looked “like AI”
The Me Before You star finds it remarkable that she’s able to speak and live her life normally with no repercussions. “I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that.”
Her two life-threatening brain injuries have changed her perspective on what matters in life, shifting her focus away from her looks and toward the moments and people that make her smile.
“The happy moments and being happy is what you’re going to see on your d*ath bed,” Emilia concluded. “You’re not going to remember the times when you took that super cute selfie.”
Emilia is set to make a return to the big screen—her last movie role was in the 2019 film Last Christmas—in the upcoming romantic drama Next Life.
She will also star in the Prime Video series Criminal and Peacock’s spy thriller Ponies.
Emilia said that maintaining her facial mobility is essential for her acting work
Additionally, Emilia recently voiced a character in the animated film The Twits, which was released on Netflix last month.
Since wrapping Game of Thrones in 2019, she has also performed on stage, appearing in the plays Private Lives and The Seagull.
One fan complimented Emilia’s “effortless elegance”
