Actress Emilia Clarke's near-death experiences made her appreciate ageing.

The 'Game of Thrones' star underwent life-saving surgery after she suffered two brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Clarke feels lucky to be able to grow old and wants to be able to embrace the ageing process naturally after her brushes with death.

"The happy moments and being happy is what you're going to see on your death bed. You're not going to remember the times when you took that super cute selfie," Clarke told People magazine.

She added: "After the surgery, because I felt so scared and under-confident, I was putting all of that into how I looked. As I got older, I realised that people are at their most beautiful when they're not thinking about themselves and considering their own beauty."

The actress also said "getting older is a guarantee" so she doesn't feel negatively about ageing.

"I didn't have a carpe diem 'seize the moment' situation when I had my brain haemorrhages," she said.

She added: "It didn't happen for me. I just got very scared of dying, ironically. What the f**k is wrong with ageing? What are the two truths in life? Taxes and death. It's happening. Getting older is a guarantee. I think the women who look most beautiful are the women who don't look younger."

The 34-year-old actress isn't a fan of cosmetic procedures to help her keep her youthful looks, as she has no interest in "ridiculous beauty standards".

"The idea of me putting my face in the hands of someone else with a knife, no, no, no," she said.

Clarke added: "Don't come at me with that. It's not going to happen. Number one is the fear, and number two, I can't do my job if I can't move my face.

"If someone would tell me that they think that I needed something in order to be acceptable to the ridiculous beauty standards that society has set, I'm going to tell them to let themselves out.

"I'm not confident in how I look, but I am competent in telling someone who has an opinion on how I look that I'm not interested in hearing it."