Emilia Clarke Hits Back at Slut-Shamers Who Hate on Her Nude Scenes

Like her “Game of Thrones” character, Emilia Clarke has no time for haters. The 30-year-old actress—who plays Daenerys Targaryen (a.k.a. Khaleesi) on the hit HBO series—recently opened up to Elle Australia about getting hate and slut-shamed for doing nude sex scenes.

In the interview, Clarke referenced a sex scene from last season of “Game of Thrones,” in which she told a man, “Take off your clothes.” Clarke praised the line for proving that her character is in charge of her own sexuality, despite being criticized by some viewers for stripping down gratuitously.

“It’s brilliant,” Clarke said. “I actually went up to [‘Game of Thrones’ creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] and thanked them. I was like, ‘That’s a scene I’ve been waiting for!’”

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For Clarke, the scene, which was well-received by fans, felt especially liberating amidst the constant slut-shaming she receives whenever she bares her body on-screen. Specifically, Clarke targeted women who slut-shamed her—an act she called “anti-feminist.”

“I get a lot of crap for having done nude scenes and sex scenes,” Clarke said. “That, in itself, is so anti-feminist. Women hating on other women is just the problem. That’s upsetting, so it’s kind of wonderful to have a scene where I was like, ‘There you go!’”

Source: Instagram

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This isn’t the first time Clarke has addressed her on-screen nudity, either. In a recent essay for Huffington Post U.K., Clarke shut down her critics, arguing that she doesn’t feel obligated to provide an explanation to anybody.

“If you’ve watched ‘Game of Thrones‘ then, spoiler, you will have seen me in the nude,” she wrote. “There are plenty of ways in which people want me to respond to questions about this fact. And plenty of reasons why I do not feel the need to justify myself.”

She maintained that her character is feminist and her nude scenes do not detract from that.

“The roles I’ve played have given me an insight into what it feels like to be a woman who stands up to inequality and hate, and stands out as a feminist,” Clarke wrote. “It has forced me to stand by my actions and be OK with the consequences.”

The Mother of Dragons has spoken. Give it a rest, slut-shamers—lest you want Clarke’s dragons to incinerate you.