Kevin Smith suffered a self-described “massive heart attack” between two events on Sunday and was sent to the hospital, forcing him to cancel his second stand-up performance he was filming for the show Kevin Smith Live!
The writer/director spoke about the experience via Facebook Live video on Tuesday, where he described how he felt nauseous after the first stand-up show. “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 said, adding, “Honestly, I was never really in pain.”
The 47-year-old also explained how he didn’t even think it was a heart attack, even though his father passed away from a massive heart attack at the age of 67, and his mother has heart problems, including having two stents in her heart.
Smith shared that his biggest concern while at the hospital was having his groin shaved. “My biggest fear in life: Death, number one. People seeing my dick, number two,” he said.
“So they went in there and went up my leg and my groin and completely went in, they found the LAD [left anterior descending artery], it was 100 percent blocked, put a stent in, bam, here I am. Dude literally saved my life.”
Before going live on Facebook, the comedian shared the news via Twitter on Monday. Actor Chris Pratt expressed his sympathies on Twitter as well, saying he was praying for Smith. Smith, however, was attacked by other users, one of whom said, “Prayer does nothing.”
“Poor Chris Pratt, one of my favorite actors on the planet, fucking put up a nice tweet,” Smith said, “And apparently people were like, ‘Fuck your prayers’ and attacked him and shit. Number one, thanks to Chris Pratt, how sweet was that, Star-Lord praying for me? 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.”
Smith is expected to fully recover from the heart attack.