By Antonio Planas – NBC News
Actor Al Pacino revealed on a podcast this weekend that he almost died during a bout with COVID-19, a near-death experience that made him reflect on his mortality.
Pacino, 84, was promoting his memoirs, Sonny Boyon the podcast The Interview from The New York Times when he told how in 2020 he became ill while at home due to coronavirus and the situation quickly became dangerous.
Pacino said he had a fever and was dehydrated with a weak pulse and that he lost consciousness.
“I was sitting there in my house, and I was gone. Like this,” Pacino said, snapping his fingers audibly. “I had no pulse.”
“Within minutes, I guess, or whatever it took, they were there,” he added. “I had about six paramedics in that living room, and there were two doctors, and they had these suits that looked like they came from outer space or something.”
[La nueva variante XEC del COVID-19 va en aumento. Estos son sus síntomas y lo que debe saber]
After regaining consciousness, he recalled: “It was a bit of a shock to open your eyes and see that. “I opened my eyes and everyone was around me, it was the first time that happened.” He said the medical staff reacted by saying: “He’s back. It’s already here.”
Although he almost died, Pacino said he didn’t remember anything profound when he lost consciousness. “I didn’t see the white light or anything like that,” he said. “I didn’t see anything there.”
“You’re gone,” Pacino said of his brush with death. “Now I started thinking about it, and I had never thought about it in my life. But you know, actors, it’s okay for me to say that I died once. It felt like death. What is it like when there is nothing else?”
Throughout his almost six decades of career, Pacino has established himself as one of Hollywood’s leading men with roles such as Michael Corleone in The GodfatherTony Montana in Scarface and his Oscar-winning leading role in Women’s perfume of 1992.
Pacino made headlines last year when, at age 83, he became a father for the fourth time, welcoming a baby boy named Roman.
