Antonio Banderas has opened up about the radical lifestyle overhaul that followed his near-fatal heart attack, and nearly a decade later, he has no regrets.
The actor, 65, suffered a massive heart attack in 2017 and responded by making drastic changes almost immediately.
He quit smoking, sold his private jet, left behind a life split between the US and the UK, including a mansion in Cobham, Surrey, and returned to his hometown of Malaga, Spain.
He also bought a theater.
“My warning was very serious,” he said. The times in an interview published Wednesday. “It changed the way I looked at life.”
This decision forced a moment of real personal reflection.
“Facing death, it made me look back and realize that I am actually a theater actor,” he explained. This realization led him to the creation of his Teatro del Soho in Málaga, a non-profit organization, which he describes as his greatest passion.
He now lives in an apartment in the city with his longtime girlfriend Nicole Kimpel and owns several restaurants. The contrast with his previous existence could hardly be more striking. “I’ve never been happier,” he said.
This isn’t the first time Banderas has spoken out about the heart attack.
Talk to Page six in December 2022, he described it as “one of the best things” that ever happened to him.
“I realized that it was probably one of the best things that happened to me in life because the things that weren’t important and that I worried about every day didn’t make any sense,” he said at the time.
“I was wondering why I worry if I’m going to die? I always knew [that I was going to die]but now I know. I saw it here.”
Banderas was married to Melanie Griffith for 18 years before their divorce in 2015 and credited that relationship with helping him overcome his early insecurities about English not being his first language.
