Emilia Clarke has spoken out about experiencing sexism during her career.
Speaking to Rolling Stone Magazine, the Me Before You actress discussed how women are treated “differently” to men.
She also compared sexism to racism, explaining: “I feel so naive for saying it, but it’s like dealing with racism.”
“You’re aware of it, but one day, you go, ‘Oh, my God, it’s everywhere!'”
Emilia, who has amassed worldwide fame for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s Game Of Thrones, admitted to slowly coming to the realisation that she was treated differently.
“Like, you suddenly wake up to it and you go, ‘Wait a f**king second, are you… are you treating me different because I’ve got a pair of t***? Is it 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.”
Emilia also compared feminism to her role in Game of Thrones, where she has appeared naked, stating that appearing nude on the show “doesn’t stop [her] from being a feminist”.
“Like, guess what? Yes, I’ve got mascara on, and I also have a high IQ, so those two things can be one and the same,” she explained.
“Women have been great rulers. And then for that to be a character that I’m known to play? That’s so f**king lucky.”
“Anyone who seems to think that it’s not needed need only look at the political environment we’re all living in to be like, ‘Oh, no, it’s needed’.”
Emilia also revealed that she’s regularly the only female on set, and that women often have fewer lines than men, regardless of if they’re the lead actor.
She also says that often women arrive for hair and make-up hours before their male counterparts.
The actress went onto explain that the death of her father made her reassess how she felt as a woman:
“It was in that re-evaluation that I was like, ‘I’m a woman, and there aren’t very many of us performing in the environment that I’m performing in.”
“I need to be incredibly sure of the ground on which I’m standing, and I need to take ownership of the choices I’m making.'”
