Antonio Banderas has opened up about the dramatic lifestyle overhaul that followed his near-fatal heart attack, and nearly a decade later, he has no regrets at all.
The actor, 65, suffered a serious heart attack in 2017 and responded by making sweeping 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 moved back to his hometown of Málaga, Spain.
He also bought a theater.
“Mine was a really serious warning,” he shared The Times in an interview published Wednesday. “It changed the way I look at life.”
The move forced a moment of genuine self-reflection.
“Faced with death, it made me look back and realize that I am actually a theater actor,” he explained. That realization led to the creation of his not-for-profit Teatro del Soho in Málaga, 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 to his former existence could hardly be greater. “I’ve never been so happy,” he said.
This is not the first time Banderas has spoken about the heart attack.
speaks to Page six in December 2022, he described it as “one of the best things” that ever happened to him.
“I realized it was probably one of the best things that ever happened in my life because the things that weren’t important and I was worried about them every day were meaningless,” he said at the time.
“I thought, why am I worried if I’m going to die? I always knew [that I was going to die]but now i know. I saw it right here.”
Banderas was married to Melanie Griffith for 18 years before their 2015 divorce, and credited that relationship with helping him overcome his early insecurities that English was not his first language.
