“Sopranos” alum Aida Turturro revealed she initially wrote off her nearly fatal 2018 heart attack as a hernia before she was rushed to the hospital.
“I was having chest pains for a while, but a hiatal hernia can imitate [a heart attack],” Turturro, 63, told her former “Sopranos” co-star Jamie-Lynn Sigler on Tuesday’s episode of her “MesSy” podcast, which she co-hosts with Christina Applegate.
“My friend’s like, ‘Should we call the ambulance?’ and I’m like, ‘Nah, I’m fine,’” she recalled.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a hiatal hernia is defined as a condition that “happens when the top of your stomach bulges through an opening in your diaphragm.”
Turturro — who famously played Sigler’s aunt on the HBO drama — then explained that she was referred to a doctor who informed her that she needed to visit a cardiologist.
“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 recalled.
At which point, doctors told her that “88 to 99 percent” of her arteries were clogged and she was “rushed to emergency” where she underwent quadruple bypass surgery.
“Now I’m bionic, and I’ve always been bionic,” she joked, potentially hinting that she now uses an artificial heart device.
“I could’ve died, I should’ve died then, but I didn’t,” she said of the experience.
“I was lucky it wasn’t my time … diabetes is the number one cause of heart disease,” said Turturro, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2001.
The actress continued: “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.”
Turturro and Sigler’s former co-star James Gandolfini also suffered a heart attack in 2013, which led to his tragic death at 51 years old.
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