Antonio Banderas gave up his ritzy Hollywood lifestyle and has zero regrets almost 10 years later.<\/p>\n
The actor, 65, moved back to his home town \u2014 M\u00e1laga, Spain \u2014 back in 2017. Banderas said it was his near-fatal heart attack<\/a> that triggered his big move.<\/p>\n \u201cMine was a really serious warning,\u201d he said of the heart attack in an interview with the Times<\/a> published Wednesday. \u201cIt changed the way I look at life.\u201d<\/p>\n The outlet noted that prior to his major health scare, Banderas was living between the US and the UK, and had a mansion in Cobham, Surrey. <\/p>\n Antonio Banderas said his near-fatal heart attack in 2017 triggered his move back to his home town of M\u00e1laga, Spain, after becoming a Hollywood superstar. He\u2019s seen here in M\u00e1laga earlier this month. Getty Images<\/p>\n The actor sold his private jet, moved back to Spain and bought a theatre following his health scare. Neilson Barnard<\/p>\n The \u201cDesperado\u201d star then immediately quit smoking, sold his private jet, returned to M\u00e1laga and bought a theatre. <\/p>\n \u201cFaced with death, it made me look back and realize that I am, in fact, a theatre actor,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Banderas now lives in a flat with his longtime girlfriend, Nicole Kimpel, and owns multiple restaurants. But his not-for-profit theatre, Teatro del Soho, is his greatest passion.<\/p>\n \u201cI have never been so happy,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n Banderas also reflected on how he became a superstar in Hollywood, sharing that his insecurities about English not being his first language went away after he married his now ex-wife, Melanie Griffith<\/a>. The two divorced in 2015<\/a> after 18 years of marriage.<\/p>\n Now, nine years later, Banderas \u2014 pictured here in February 2025 \u2014 said he\u2019s \u201cnever been happier.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n In his interview with the Times, Banderas looked back at his Hollywood career and shared that he was told that because he\u2019s a Spaniard, he could only play villains. He\u2019s seen here in 1992\u2019s \u201cThe Mambo Kings.\u201d \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tWant more celebrity and pop culture news?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with Page Six Daily.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n He shared that while he was originally told that as a Spaniard, he could only play \u201cthe bad guys\u201d in films, he proved them wrong with 1998\u2019s \u201cThe Mask of Zorro.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem was a few years later I had a mask, hat, sword and cape and the bad guy was Captain Love, who was blond and had blue eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cEven more important is [his 2011 film] \u2018Puss in Boots,\u2019 because it\u2019s for young kids. They see a cat that has a Spanish, even an Andalusian accent and he\u2019s a good guy.\u201d<\/p>\n But that changed with 1998\u2019s \u201cThe Mask of Zorro,\u201d in which he played the hero. He\u2019s seen here in the film, opposite his co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones. \u00a9Columbia Pictures\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n The actor also said his animated character Puss is important to him since the cat has a Spanish accent, but is considered \u201ca good guy.\u201d \u00a9Universal\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n