Brian May says medication he took after his 2020 heart attack almost cost him his life.
The Queen guitarist – who underwent cardiac surgery and had three stents fitted after he was hospitalised in May 2020 – admitted the incident feels “unreal” looking back on it now.
He told Record Collector magazine: “It’s strange, talking about it now, it seems unreal. It feels like it couldn’t possibly have happened, it couldn’t possibly have been that bad.
“But yes, there were a few points where you can say if this and this and this happened, I wouldn’t be here right now. It wasn’t just the heart attack.
“The stuff that happened afterwards was actually worse; they give you all these strange medicines after you’ve had the procedure to fix the heart, and those medicines are very, very dangerous, and compromised my stomach.
“That was the worse feeling, where I thought, ‘OK, I don’t think I’m going to make it through this bit.’ But I’m OK now.”
The 74-year-old musician admitted he was in a “really bad” place with his health, and he was “really torn to bits” by the physical impact.
He added: “It was pretty shocking, and I got very sick. I was really bad. There were a couple of points during that whole sequence of events when I couldn’t walk.
“Never mind not getting out, I couldn’t get from a bed to a wash-basin. I was really, really torn to bits by all the physical stuff that happened.”
And he credited his wife – former ‘EastEnders’ actress Anita Dobson – with keeping him alive during such a challenging time.
He said: “My wife was a lifesaver with her cooking and just looking after me. I don’t think I would have survived without her doing what she did.”