She is a global superstar, recognised for her roles in TV drama Game of Thrones, the moving film, Me Before You, and many more.
But actress Emilia Clarke has recently admitted that she struggles with numbers sometimes, and it can leave her feeling fearful and anxious.
Her number struggles began at a young age, with Emilia explaining:
“My dad was genius level maths, the smartest man ever, my brother the same. I was always kind of the 'thick one' in the family, the 'dummy'. It all really began with maths. My dad would test me on my times tables and I would just cry.
“It sort of became this like pinnacle of unintelligence which followed me throughout my whole school career.
“I could see it in my dad like: ‘Why aren’t you getting it?’ And my dad was an incredibly sensitive, kind, loving, gorgeous man, you rarely saw him cross, but I knew in that moment…I have done something wrong here, this is wrong that I can’t do it because it’s something that’s so simple for him to do.”
Struggling with numbers can affect you at work
Emilia's fear of maths even affected her when she worked in a bar after leaving drama school: “I lost the bar money because people would give me a 20 and I’d probably give that right back…the fear of not being able to calculate.”
On another occasion, when starring in The Seagull in London’s West End, Emilia says she was brought to tears when her co-star Tom Rhys Harries jokingly changed some lines about prime numbers in the script, for which he apologised after seeing how upset she’d become.
The actress summed up her feelings about maths saying: “It’s like this constant fear, a fear of numbers which feels like a colossal failure.”
Explore National Numeracy Day’s free resources
We love Emilia's honesty and she has helped to show that if, like her, you have experienced struggles with everyday numeracy, you are certainly not alone. National Numeracy Day on Wednesday 20 May is here to help.
Find out more about the free resources and activities available here.
Why not try our free online tool, the National Numeracy Challenge too? It aims to help improve everyday number skills and confidence and you can use it in your own time and at your own pace.
