Al Pacino has shared his harrowing experience of nearly dying from Covid-19 in 2020, revealing he “didn’t have a pulse” for several minutes.
In interviews with The New York Times and People, the 84-year-old actor described his battle with the virus before vaccines were available.
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Subscribe to the Newsletter“They said my pulse was gone. You’re here, and then you’re not. I thought: Wow, you don’t even have your memories. You have nothing. Strange porridge,” Pacino told The New York Times.
Pacino recalled feeling unusually ill with a fever and dehydration before losing consciousness. “I was sitting in my house, and then I was gone. Just like that. I didn’t have a pulse,” he said.
When paramedics arrived, he woke up surrounded by medical staff in protective gear.
“They looked like they were from outer space,” Pacino remarked. “It was shocking to open my eyes and see them. Then I heard, ‘He’s back.'”
Speaking to People, Pacino questioned if he had truly died, despite a nurse confirming his lack of pulse. “I thought I experienced death. But how could I be dead? If I was dead, I fainted.”
Reflecting on the experience, he told The New York Times he “didn’t see the white light” and felt there was “nothing there” after death. He quoted Hamlet, musing, “It was no more. You’re gone.”
Despite this near-death encounter, Pacino says it hasn’t changed his outlook on life. “Not at all,” he told People.
Pacino shares more about this event in his upcoming memoir Sonny Boy. His latest film, Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness, premiered last week at the San Sebastián Film Festival.
