Antonio Banderas has opened up about the dramatic lifestyle overhaul that followed his near-fatal heart attack and, almost a decade later, he has no regrets.
The actor, 65, suffered a serious heart attack in 2017 and responded by making radical 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.
“Mine was a really serious warning,” he said. The times in an interview published Wednesday. “It changed my way of seeing life.”
The move forced a moment of genuine self-reflection.
“In the face of death, it made me look back and realize that I’m actually a theater actor,” he explained. That understanding led him to the creation of his Teatro del Soho in Malaga, a non-profit organization, which he describes as his greatest passion.
He now lives in an apartment in the city with his long-term girlfriend Nicole Kimpel and owns several restaurants. The contrast with its previous existence could hardly be more stark. “I’ve never been happier,” he said.
It is not the first time that Banderas talks about the heart attack.
talking 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 had ever happened to me in my life, because the things that weren’t important and I worried about them every day were meaningless,” he said at the time.
“I thought, why am I worried about that if I’m going to die? I always knew that. [that I was going to die]but now I know. I’ve seen it right here.”
Banderas was married to Melanie Griffith for 18 years before divorcing in 2015, and he credited that relationship with helping him overcome his early insecurities about English not being his first language.
