Emilia explained she was working to raise £250,000 for theSameYou charity–which helps to support those recovering from brain injuries –to free up much-needed NHS beds.
Last night, Emilia Clarke took to her Instagram to bargain with fans. If you donate money to her charity, SameYou’s Covid-19 Relief fund, you could be in with a chance of winning a virtual dinner date with the mother of dragons.
“How would you feel about having dinner with me – virtually? ” she asked during an Instagram Live. “When you donate, you can click on a little link that will enter you into a randomised selection process and twelve lucky people will join me virtually and we’re going to put together a store cupboard dinner. We’ll cook it together, eat it together and discuss lots of things: isolation, fear, funny videos and the fact that I can’t really cook. So it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be interesting. ”
“We have to create more beds for the NHS to take care of all of the COVID-19 sufferers. And when you’re doing that, your brain injury survivors are leaving hospital early – as we all have to do at this time – and they need somewhere to go. So with our partners in America, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and our partners in England, UCL, we are creating a virtual rehabilitation clinic, so that brain injury survivors have somewhere to go. Somewhere to feel safe and not alone and isolated. We need to do all we can to release as many beds as possible to free-up our hardworking NHS. ”
It’s a cause close to the actress’s heart and the charity was set up by Emilia last year after she revealed her own struggle with two aneurysms and two round of brain surgery in-between filming Game Of Thrones.
“How does that sound? ” Emilia concluded. “You get to do a good thing, you get to help people and you get to have dinner with me. ” Simple, effective and with one hell of an incentive for die-hard GOT fans, Emilia’s solution offers a considerate and meaningful way to lend your support.
Elsewhere, though, some of La La Land’s biggest names have been going a bit cray-cray trying to drum up some philanthropic ideas of their own. There’s been an emergence of misguided celebs who have used the outbreak of COVID-19 as a PR springboard to air some shaky views – Madonna told us all that the virus is a “great equaliser” whilst stretching out in a petal-filled bath tub and wearing ritzy jewels. Vanessa Hudgens bemoaned the cancellation of Coachella because “yeah people are gonna die… but that’s inevitable” and certainly not a good enough reason to ruin her festival plans. Meanwhile Gal Gadot and her Hollywood pals serenaded us all with a rendition of Imagine by John Lennon (though no concrete plan as to how the gesture could actively help those in peril). Hmmmm.
But, many celebs, like Emilia, have thought carefully about how their high profile could leverage support and relief for those who need it. Rihanna donated $5 million to Coronavirus relief efforts, while her Rihanna Foundation provided personal protective equipment to America’s worst-hit state, New York (not all heroes wear capes). Britney Spears took part in the Do Your Part challenge, pledging to help three followers with whatever they need (“whether it’s with food, or I’m getting your child diapers or whatever it is”).
Angelina Jolie, Ryan Reynolds, Roger Federer and plenty more celebs have pledged monetary donations to food banks and relief funds and Taylor Swift has been individually wiring money to fans hit hard by the pandemic (one photographer revealed she received a $3,000 sum from the singer)
