Antonia Banderas grateful for 'serious warning' that made him leave Hollywood

Antonia Banderas has told how a heart attack convinced him to leave Hollywood.

The actor, now 65, nearly died in 2017 after suffering a heart attack. Now he has told how the health event changed his life.

"Mine was a really serious warning," he said in an interview with The Times. "It changed the way I look at life." He added, "Faced with death, it made me look back and realise that I am, in fact, a theatre actor."

The Puss in Boots star stopped smoking, sold his private jet and moved back to Malaga in Spain, where he was born, with his girlfriend Nicole Kimpel.

Nine years on, he believes it's the best thing that ever happened to him. "I have never been so happy," he said of living back in his home country. "It keeps me in touch with my roots, my neighbourhood, my people. I haven't lost that connection over the years. Quite the opposite."

It's not the first time the actor has spoken about his life change. "The things that were not important and I was worried every day about them, meaningless," he said in 2022. "I was like, 'Why am I worried about that if I'm going to die?' I knew, always (that I was going to die), but now I know. I've seen it right here."

While he still works in film and TV, Antonio, who used to be married to Melanie Griffiths, also owns not-for-profit theatre venue, Teatro del Soho in Malaga.