Emilia Clarke Reveals Her Simple Method To Avoid Haters And Body Shamers, Which ‘Mess’ Her Up

Despite the fact that Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke was once ranked the most desirable woman on Earth, she faces constant hate from strangers on the internet who call her fat and ugly.

Clarke admitted that, while she may be a successful actress known for playing the stunning beauty Daenerys Targaryen, criticism about her appearance and body have the potential to “mess” her up, emotionally and mentally. Fortunately, Emilia has a very simple strategy to maintain her mental health while coping with her rise to fame. She revealed to USA Today that the easiest way to block out the haters is to avoid them all together. If she has no idea what people are saying about her on the internet, she doesn’t have to worry about it.

“I have a rule: I just don’t Google myself,” Emilia Clarke explained.

However, sometimes people will deliberately tag the actress in a post criticizing something about her — usually her appearance. So, Emilia Clarke has to go out of her way to abstain from any internet content pertaining to her. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t use the internet, she simply avoids anything that mentions her.

“I’m on social media, but I don’t look at the stuff that other people tag me in because it just (messes) me up. Like, ‘Oh, I’m hideous and fat,’ but then if I don’t read it, you save yourself from finding any haters out there.”

Emilia Clarke also mentioned that it would be nice for people with negative opinions of her to keep those thoughts to themselves, adding, “If you hate me, I don’t need to know.”

It may be easy to navigate the web while dodging body shamers and mean-spirited criticism, but running into a stranger on the street isn’t as easy to predict. Fortunately, Emilia Clarke has another trick up her sleeve. Though she shares a face with the Mother of Dragons, Emilia Clarke looks just different enough from Daenerys Targaryen to maintain some anonymity. The simple difference in hair color between her real self and her character on Game of Thrones is usually enough to keep fans or haters from recognizing her when she goes out into public.

“I’m really lucky because I don’t look like Daenerys, so I’ve been able to observe the success of the show from afar, which has been really lovely,” Clarke said. “It’s allowed my family and friends to kind of be like, ‘Oh, OK,’ but not have to deal with me walking down the street and somebody going, ‘Ahhh!’ all the time. That doesn’t happen a bunch.”

However, as Game of Thrones only continues to grow in popularity and Emilia Clarke lands more roles in feature films, that lucky benefit may slowly disappear. Emilia recently starred in Terminator Genisys and Me Before You, sporting a brunette color similar to her natural hair in both films. It could be only a matter of time before the face of Emilia Clarke is unmistakable.

The actress explained that her rise in notoriety has been incremental, which has given her time to adjust to the difficulties of fame.

“… the adjustments have been really gradual and slow. Obviously, my life has completely transformed, it’s kind of immeasurable, but (it’s nice) being able to do what I love all the time, and have that to help my family and my friends.”

Emilia Clarke arguably dodged a bullet by turning down the leading role in Fifty Shades of Grey, a sexually explicit film that skyrocketed Dakota Johnson to celebrity status. Emilia refused the role due to excessive nudity, but in hindsight did herself another favor by slowing down the backlash of criticism that comes with fame. Meanwhile, Dakota Johnson admitted she was terrified of the looming threat of super-fame.

Would you use Emilia Clarke’s strategy to avoid hate on the internet? Or would you dare to Google yourself?

Catch Game of Thrones on Sunday nights on HBO.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]