‘The Sopranos’ alum Aida Turturro has revealed that she initially thought her near-fatal heart attack in 2018 was a hernia before she was rushed to the hospital.
“I’ve been having chest pain for a while, and a hiatal hernia can mimic (a heart attack),” Turturro, 63, told former “Sopranos” co-star Jamie Lynn Sigler on Tuesday’s episode of the “MesSy” podcast he co-hosts with Christina Applegate.
“My friend was like, ‘Should I call an ambulance?’ And I was like, ‘No, I’m fine,'” she recalled.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a hiatal hernia is defined as a condition that “occurs when the upper part of the stomach protrudes through the opening in the diaphragm.”
Turturro, who famously played Sigler’s aunt on the HBO drama, explained that she was then referred to a doctor who said she needed to see a cardiologist.
“I get in the car and walk home…my cousin gives me the doctor’s number, and his doctor replies, and he’s like, ‘Maybe you need to go to a cardiologist.'” I go to the doctor, a great doctor, and he’s like, ‘Oh, you had a heart attack,'” she recalled.
At that point, doctors told her her arteries were “88 to 99 percent” blocked, and she was rushed to hospital and underwent quadruple bypass surgery.
“Now I’m bionic, and I’ll always be bionic,” she joked, possibly hinting that she now uses an artificial heart device.
“I could have died, I should have died then, but I didn’t,” she said of the experience.
Turturro, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2001, said: “I’m lucky it wasn’t my time…Diabetes is the number one cause of heart disease.”
“My life is blessed with beautiful people. It’s all in your brain. I learned my lesson, you have to take care of yourself,” the actress continued.
“We can always do better, but what really matters is that we don’t do anything. If we don’t do it, we can’t help our kids, we can’t help our families. This is a priority, so get everyone on board. This is our life and we’re in this together.”
Turturro and Sigler’s former co-star, James Gandolfini, also tragically passed away at the age of 51 after suffering a heart attack in 2013.
