Al Pacino revealed on a podcast this weekend that he almost died during a bout with Covid-19 — a near-death experience that left the star actor pondering his mortality.
Pacino, 84, was plugging his memoir “Sonny Boy” on The New York Times’ podcast “The Interview,” when he recounted how in 2020 he’d fallen sick at his home from Covid and the situation quickly became dicey.
Pacino said he had a fever, was dehydrated, had a faint pulse and lost consciousness.
“I was sitting there at my house, and I was gone. Like that,” Pacino said, audibly snapping his fingers. “I didn’t have a pulse.” He continued: “In a matter of minutes, I guess, or whatever it took, they were there. … I had about six paramedics in that living room, and there were two doctors, and they had these outfits that looked like they were from outer space or something.”
After regaining consciousness, the actor recalled, “It was kind of shocking to open your eyes and see that. I opened my eyes and everybody was around me — the first time that’s ever happened.” He said medical personnel reacted by saying, “He’s back. He’s here.”
Although he almost died, Pacino said he didn’t remember anything profound experience when he lost consciousness. “I didn’t see the white light or anything like that,” he said. “There’s nothing there.”
“You’re gone,” Pacino said of his brush with death. “Now I started thinking about that and I never thought about it in my life. But you know actors, it sounds good to me to say I died once. It felt like death. What is it when there’s no more?”
Throughout his nearly six-decade career, Pacino has cemented himself as one of Hollywood’s leading men with roles such as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather,” Tony Montana in “Scarface” and his Academy Award-winning role starring in 1992’s “Scent of a Woman.”
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