Antonio Banderas says he learnt to ignore 'meaningless' worries after he nearly died of heart attack at age 56
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Spanish actor Antonio Banderas was rushed to the hospital in 2017 after he suffered a cardiac event and now he thinks that having a heart attack was "one of the best things" that's ever happened to him. Banderas was only 56 years old at the time of the incident and underwent surgery to have three stents implanted into his coronary arteries. He credits his narrow escape from death for his resolve to change his life for the better and the chance to do so.
"I realised that it [the heart attack] probably was one of the best things that ever happened in my life because the things that were not important and I was worried every day about them, meaningless", 'The Mask of Zorro' star said, according to Page Six. "I was like, why am I worried about that if I’m going to die? I knew always [that I was going to die], but now I know. I’ve seen it right here."
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The 62-year-old explained that he prioritized his family and friends as well as his love of acting, but started to separate from "things that I thought were important before but weren’t really." He previously praised his girlfriend Nicole Kimpel who applied her presence of mind and saved his life by giving him an aspirin when he started to show symptoms of a heart attack.
"My girlfriend, she had a headache and we didn't have anything in the house. So she went out to buy something, a painkiller or whatever. She bought this aspirin, which is the only thing that she found and she found the maximum one, I think it was five milligrams", he explained during an appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'. "The next morning, when I started having the symptoms and I clearly knew what was going on, she put one of those aspirins inside of my tongue and that saved my life. Yeah. So I had a second chance."
The Oscar nominee shared that he had faced a lot of down moments in his life but they does not last long as he is “a very positive person by nature. My depressions last five minutes, I bounce back immediately.” Banderas is currently appearing on stage in Madrid in 'Company' and hinted that he is planning to make a long awaited return to Broadway after winning a Tony in 2003 for 'Nine.'