Kevin Smith says heart attack was “the best thing that ever happened” to him

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Last February the entertainment world got a huge shock when news broke that Kevin Smith had suffered a near-fatal heart attack, but everyone took a big sigh of relief when he came out the other end in good health. In that last two months the director has undergone a serious transformation having dropped 32 pounds after starting a new diet, and now he’s got a very positive attitude about the whole experience.

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Smith spoke with NBC’s Today in his first interview since the heart attack, and during the course of the conversation he said that he’s close to hitting his 50-pound weight-loss goal, has become an ambassador for Weight Watchers (joining Oprah and DJ Khaled), and says the heart attack was “the best thing that ever happened” to him.

I feel great. Honestly, the heart attack was the best thing that ever happened to me. They keep you awake while it’s going on, they don’t knock you out so I was talking the whole operation. He [the doctor] told me later on, “You’re very chatty.” He’s like, “You wanted to know everything…you were singing a song, ‘Degrassi’.” And I was singing the theme song to DEGRASSI because it’s very hopeful.

He went on to say how his biggest fears in the hospital were 1.) dying and 2.) being seen naked. “When you’re in the hospital your chances of dying and being seen naked go up real huge,” he joked. He said he didn’t even know he was having a heart attack until his doctor told him, leading the doc to ask Smith if he had been smoking weed prior to the incident.

I didn’t know until I was in the operating room that I had a heart attack. He’s [the doctor] like, “You had a massive heart attack.” I was like, “Nobody told me. Are You serious?” And he’s like, “What’s your pain threshold on a 0-10.” I was like, “-3.” And he was like, “Are you high?” I said, “Yeah I got blazed before my show!” I didn’t feel like I was having a heart attack, didn’t recognize that it was happening.

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As the interview went on, he said that he will probably keep losing weight even after he gets to his 50-pound goal. Smith hasn’t given interviews since the heart attack, but he has talked about what happened before, including on a social media post while in the hospital and on his podcast, “Fatman on Batman.”

I’m thrilled to hear he’s doing so well and feeling great. Events like this have a knack for getting people to undergo serious lifestyle changes, and I’m glad he’s taking the steps to get healthier. He looks great, and hopefully, he can get back to work doing what he does best and get to bringing us JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT.