Al Pacino Shares His Near-Death Experience with Covid-19 and Reflects on the Afterlife
Al Pacino disclosed a close brush with death from Covid-19 in 2020 and offered his thoughts on the afterlife. In conversations with The New York Times and People magazine, the acclaimed actor recounted his harrowing encounter with the virus, during which he momentarily had no heartbeat. At 84, Pacino told the Times that he began feeling "peculiarly unwell," developing a fever and dehydration. "I was just there at home, and suddenly, I was not," he recounted. "My pulse had vanished."
Reflecting on his near-death ordeal, the "Scarface" star mused, "One moment you're here, the next you're gone. It's like you lose everything, even your memories. A bizarre mixture." Moments later, an ambulance arrived, reviving Pacino amidst a crew of six paramedics and two doctors in his living room.
"They wore suits that seemed extraterrestrial," he told the publication. "Waking up to that was startling. They surrounded me, declaring, 'He's back. He's here.'" In a chat with People, Pacino spoke of regaining consciousness in a fog of bewilderment. "I looked around, thinking, 'What transpired with me?'"
Despite everyone assuming he had passed, Pacino pondered whether he truly died. "I felt I had encountered death. Perhaps not. I don’t believe so, really. But I survived," he stated. He lauded his "excellent assistant" for swiftly summoning paramedics after his nurse confirmed his absent pulse.
"He got the team there because the nurse said, 'I can't find a pulse on him,'" Pacino remembered. When asked if this scare altered his lifestyle, Pacino told People, "Not at all."
Yet, the experience did leave its mark on him. Currently working on a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s "King Lear," Pacino acknowledged a metaphysical shift. "No white light, nothing like that," he explained. "As Hamlet ponders, 'To be or not to be'; 'The undiscovered country from whose bourn, no traveler returns.' Then concludes with: 'no more.' It was simply no more," Pacino added.
"The concept of being gone was something I’d never contemplated. But actors love a good story: to say, I died once. What does it mean when there's truly nothing?" Pacino's narrative is chronicled in his autobiography, "Sonny Boy," set for release on Tuesday.
