Bob Odenkirk has recently revealed that he required 3 defibrillator shocks to get his pulse back after an on-set, near-fatal heart attack.
On July 27, 2021, the 59-year-old actor suddenly collapsed after finishing up a scene for the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Odenkirk said, “We were shooting a scene, we’d been shooting all day, and luckily I didn’t go back to my trailer.” Instead, he moved to a space just off the set to sit with his costars Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian.
He said, “I went to play the Cubs game and ride my workout bike, and I just went down. Rhea said I started turning bluish-gray right away.”
Odenkirk also said that he was aware of his heart condition, but had been given mixed advice on what to do.
He said, “I’d known since 2018 that I had this plaque buildup in my heart. I went to two heart doctors at Cedars-Sinai, and I had dye and an M.R.I. and all that stuff, and the doctors disagreed” on a treatment plan. One doctor said that he should start medication, while the other said he could wait — the option Odenkirk chose.
Eventually, “one of those pieces of plaque broke up,” which caused his heart attack.
Seehorn and Fabian called for immediate help. Rosa Estrada, who was the health safety supervisor on the set, and Angie Meyer, an assistant director, started giving Odenkirk CPR and giving electric shocks to his heart using an automated defibrillator.
The first two shocks were not enough to bring back his pulse. Odenkirk said. “The third time, it got me that rhythm back.”
He was rushed to a hospital in Albuquerque, where doctors performed angioplasty by blowing “up the little balloons and knocked out that plaque and left stents in two places.”
Odenkirk had to spend a week in the hospital to recover from a near-death experience.
In August 2021, Odenkirk thanked everyone for their support after his family and friends expressed concerns over the news of his on-set collapse.
He tweeted at the time, “I am doing great. I’ve had my very own ‘It’s a wonderful life’ week of people insisting I make the world slightly better. Wow! Thank you, I love everyone right now but let’s keep expectations reasonable!”
