Aida Turturro, who starred as Janice Soprano on the famed HBO series The Sopranos, is revealing that she could have died due to ignoring symptoms of a heart attack.
The 63-year-old actress made an appearance on the “MeSsy” podcast, where she told her co-star Jamie-Lynn Sigler and co-host Christina Applegate about what happened.
She recalled, “I was having chest pains for a while, but a hiatal hernia can imitate it [a heart attack.] My friend’s like, ‘Should we call the ambulance?’ and I’m like, ‘Nah, I’m fine.’ I get in my car, I walk to my house … my cousin gave me his doctor’s number, his doctor answered and he’s like … ‘It sounds like you might need to go to a cardiologist.’ I go to the doctor, [an] amazing doctor, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, you had a heart attack.’”
She was then told she had around 90% blockage and was rushed to the hospital! She ended up having an emergency quadruple bypass surgery.
“I could’ve died, I should’ve died then, but I didn’t,” she shared.
“I’m blessed with beautiful people in my life. It’s all in your brain. I learned my lessons, you have to take care of yourself. We can always do better but it’s really about, don’t do nothing. You can’t help your kids, you can’t help your family if you don’t do you. Get everybody involved [because] this is a priority. This is our life, we’re doing this together,” she shared.
She also noted she has now lost 80 pounds due to a change in diet and increase in exercise.
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