ACTOR Antonio Banderas has assured fans that he is 'in perfect health' following two very public heart condition scares and that he was able to celebrate his 57th birthday this week without any fears for the future.
Spain's most famous silver-screen export along with Penélope Cruz, Banderas – who was born and raised in Málaga – was rushed to A&E at a Surrey hospital after suffering chest pains whilst working out in the gym at his home in the southern UK county some months back.
Although dismissed as 'nothing to worry about' at the time, a few weeks later he was admitted to a cardiology unit in Geneva, Switzerland, with a heart attack.
He was diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia – or irregular heartbeat – and had three stents fitted, but said he had been 'very lucky' and was able to pick up a leading award less than a week later at the Spanish Film Festival in his native Costa del Sol city (see full story here).
His treatment also included what is kown as a thermo-ablation, invasive surgery to correct his heartbeat rhythms.
“Unless the arrhythmias come back at a later date, I won't need to have any more heart operations,” said the actor at an interview yesterday (Saturday), two days after his 57th birthday on Thursday (August 10).
“I feel [expletive] great and, for the moment, I'm not going to have any more heart surgery,” he declared.
“The first operation, the stents being fitted, is the 'mechanical' part; the second was the 'electrical' part.
“There's always the chance that the arrhythmia will return, but at the moment I'm in good health and have reached an agreement with my doctors that there will be no further surgery in future unless they come back.”
Banderas also spoke of his new line of bespoke accessories, 'Antonio Banderas Design', created for the Starlite Shop in Marbella (Málaga), a retail spin-off of the province's famous charity arts festival of the same name, of which the Andalucía-born celebrity is one of the promoters.
The actor spent two-and-a-half years studying fashion at the famous London-based Saint Martin's College, and his collection is 'inspired by Mediterranean culture and by the European post-war dream'.
“It is based on the colour blue, and includes 1950s' sunglasses, celebrity influences – such as Maria Callas, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Federico Fellini, La Dolce Vita, the birth of Cannes Film Festival, San Remo, and so on – and what I call 'retro-future', or looking back on and focusing on the post-war years but from a new, 21st-century perspective,” he explains.
Antonio Banderas has long been behind a very affordable and eponymous series of women's and men's perfume which has proven highly popular in the last 10 years or so.
Concerning the Starlite Festival, Antonio says: “These type of events generate lots of controversy at times, when people look at them from a moral point of view; but those who receive the benefits of the charity donations they create do not see it that way.
“In 1994, I went to Somalia with UNICEF [the United Nations' children's charity wing] just as the US troops were arriving, in order to make the international community aware that people were still dying of hunger out there.
“On my return to Madrid and during a press conference to that end, someone told me I'd made the trip to 'clean up my image'.
“But I'll keep on giving the same response to comments of that nature: 'Okay, let's just say I did do it for that reason, as a publicity stunt. But then, the child who gets the medication and food that results from it never once asked me if I was religious, or a philanthropist; that child simply got what he or she needed. So, if only all the corporations and individuals in the world would do the same as a publicity stunt or to clean up their images – because, if they did, there'd be an incredible amount of funds available to be able work on relief in pockets of extreme poverty and social injustice out there'.”
Banderas argues that, although he has never conducted charity work 'to make himself look good' – but purely because he wants to help, and more so given that he is in a position to make an even greater difference – it does not matter either way, since the result is what counts, not the method.
And in this case, the Starlite Festival certainly brings about excellent results, in the same way as celebrities acting as ambassadors for UN humanitarian causes do so.
In any case, Banderas does not need publicity, especially for his fellow Málaga people, who welcome him with open arms when he joins the Easter processions there every year without fail.
If he did, it is likely his new film will do the job for him: several of his screen projects are about to air, of which he most recommends Life itself, in which he stars alongside Olivia Wilde and Oscar Isaac – names that could easily be confused to give the wrong impression of its celebrity content – and directed by San Fogelman.
“It's a very interesting and powerful story that takes place in two very difference scenarios – New York city and a Sevilla-province village surrounded by olive groves,” Banderas reveals.
“I get the impression it's a film that's going to make a big noise.”
