'It changed the way I look at life': Antonio Banderas opens up on life after heart attack

Hollywood star Antonio Banderas has claimed his near-fatal heart attack is the best thing to have happened to him because of the changes he made to his life.

The 65-year-old actor reassessed his life after suffering a medical emergency in 2017 and after walking away from his Hollywood lifestyle to return to his birthplace of Malaga, Spain.

Banderas, who lives with partner Nicole Kimpel, told The Times newspaper of his belief his heart attack was the best thing to have happened to him: "Seriously. Mine was a really serious warning. It changed the way I look at life.

"Faced with death, it made me look back and realise that I am, in fact, a theatre actor. I have never been so happy."

He quipped he is so besotted with his theatre that he'll still be there when he dies, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He said: "A few months before (my father) died we were watching the procession of the Holy Sepulchre pass by on the night of Good Friday and suddenly, without looking at me, he said, 'I think there's nothing. I think there's nothing after death.' My father, who was very Catholic, said that. I will come back as a ghost. To haunt my theatre."

The star reflected on his "big leap to Hollywood", which he felt had previously "been off limited to Spaniards" and admitted his insecurities disappeared when he found professional success and personal contentment with former spouse Melanie Griffith, the mother of his daughter Stella, 29.

He said: "I didn't speak English, but little by little I made a career for myself there. I later married an American woman and my life changed, my insecurities disappeared."

Antonio was warned when he arrived in America to expect to only play villains, so he's very proud to have played the titular hero in The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro, but thinks his role as Puss in Boots in the Shrek franchise was particularly important for representation.