Kevin Smith checked in with his fans and thanked his well-wishers in a Facebook Live video Tuesday after he suffered a “massive heart attack” Sunday night.
Smith was forced to cancel the second of two stand-up shows he was filming for his show “Kevin Smith Live!” as a result of the medical emergency.
In the 19-minute video, he recounts his experience leading up to, during, and after his heart attack, explaining that he began to feel nauseous after finishing the first of the back-to-back shows.
“I started feeling pressure on my chest — but not like, ‘There’s an elephant on my chest’ — I just couldn’t catch my breath,” he continued. “Honestly, I was never really in pain.”
He said that because he is only 47 and because of the lack of pain, he couldn’t “piece together” that it was a heart attack, despite the heavy chest and the fact that his father died of a heart attack.
“I never in a million years thought it was heart attack,” he said.
He thanked the first responders who arrived after he and his team decided to call an ambulance: “They had to deal with a guy, who was, never mind the heart attack, deathly afraid of lifting his shirt up,” the “Chasing Amy” director joked.
He continued to share stories of his fear of having his groin shaved — which was necessary to check what was going on with his heart — and thanked Chris Pratt, who came under fire after tweeting that he was praying for Smith.
“Poor Chris Pratt, one of my favorite actors on the planet, f—-ing put up a nice tweet, where he’s just like ‘Hey man, I don’t know you that much but I love ‘Clerks’ and I’m praying for you’ and and apparently people were like, ‘F— your prayers’ and attacked him and s—,” he said. “And then James Gunn had to jump into it and be like, ‘Ain’t nothing wrong with praying for a person, man.'”
“And number one, thanks to Chris Pratt, how sweet was that,” he continued. “Number two, please don’t fight over stuff like that. It’s a waste of time. Whether you’re religious or not, someone saying ‘I’ll pray for you,’ it’s good intentions.”
He updated his fans again Wednesday, tweeting that “The heart is feeling good!” and indicating that he has become a vegetarian.
Home again, home again, jiggety-jig! Home is where the heart is and the heart is feeling good! It’s actually getting more blood flow and oxygen than it has in a long time. So I am ALERT, to say the least! Thank you for all the kind words, folks – from Vegetarian Kev, Day 2! pic.twitter.com/zLbwzx7Exq
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) February 28, 2018
Watch the full video below.
Kevin we don’t know each other too good but I have loved you since Clerks and I’m praying my ass off for you cause I believe in the healing power of prayer. Can you please pray with me people!? 🙏♥️ https://t.co/syB7BiQaoY
— chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) February 26, 2018
Praying for you. I will continue to. You inspired me with Clerks when I was a senior HS. I’m tagging my Lb/rb football coach who showed me the movie cause he believed in me and knew I’d be inspired. @hodge1916 🙏♥️🙏 https://t.co/syB7BiQaoY
— chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) February 26, 2018
After the first show this evening, I had a massive heart attack. The Doctor who saved my life told me I had 100% blockage of my LAD artery (aka “the Widow-Maker”). If I hadn’t canceled show 2 to go to the hospital, I would’ve died tonight. But for now, I’m still above ground! pic.twitter.com/M5gSnW9E5h
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) February 26, 2018