Antonio Banderas credits his girlfriend Nicole Kimpel for saving his life following a heart attack in 2017.
Nicole Kimpel and Antonio Banderas
The 59-year-old actor was rushed to hospital back in 2017 after suffering chest pains while exercising which was later discovered to be a heart attack, and has said his girlfriend was the key to his survival after she happened to buy maximum strength aspirin for a headache the day before.
Speaking on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', he said: "The night before that I had this event, 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.
"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. So I had a second chance, and some stuff changed in my life, since then."
The 'Mask of Zorro' star previously said his health scare was a "turning point" in his life, as it changed him "psychologically".
He said: "It was a turning point, psychologically. And the tendency you have as a human, after a cardiac event, is to show yourself in a perfect state. You want to do even more. You go, 'I can do a good job!' And so I chose to do more interesting movies."
Antonio admitted his life hasn't been "perfect" but said he's now devoted to telling the "truth" and being honest about his life.
He added: "I'm 60 next year and have realised there is a moment in your life when there is only space for truth. My life has never been perfect. I travel through with my own s**t. But the challenge for anyone famous is just to recoup the normality of everyday life. If you've made yourself a castle, your contact with reality vanishes.
"It's dangerous. Because you start thinking you are special, but you're not. You connect to people artistically, but that doesn't make you special. You can go cuckoo."
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