Al Pacino has revealed he almost died of Covid – and delivered his verdict on the afterlife

Al Pacino has revealed he almost died from Covid-19 in 2020, saying he “didn't have a pulse” for several minutes.

In interviews with The New York Times and People magazine published over the weekend, the 84-year-old Godfather and Scarface actor detailed his experience with the virus, which he contracted in 2020 before a vaccine was available.

“They said my pulse was gone. It was so – you are here, you are not. I thought: Wow, you don't even have a memory. you have nothing Weird porridge,” Pacino told The New York Times.

The actor said he “didn't feel well – not unusually well”, and recalled having a fever and dehydration before losing consciousness. “I was sitting there in my house, and I passed out. like that I didn't have a pulse,” he said.

An ambulance arrived and he woke up to a medical team in his living room, including six paramedics and two doctors. “Their clothes looked like they were from outer space or something,” he said. “It was shocking to open my eyes. Everyone was around me, and they said: 'He's back. He's here.'

Speaking to PEOPLE, Pacino questioned whether he was actually dead, though a nurse confirmed his lack of a pulse. “I thought I felt death. I may not be… I don't think I'm dead. Everyone thought I was dead. How could I be dead? I would faint if I died.”

The Oscar winner told the New York Times that he “didn't see a white light or anything” and that “there's nothing there” after death — though the experience prompted some existential reflections.

“As Hamlet says, 'To be or not to be'; 'The undiscovered land from which no traveler returns.' And he said two words: 'No more'. It was no longer. you're gone I've never thought about it in my life,” Pacino said. “But you know actors: It's good to say I died once. What happens when there's nothing else?”

When people asked if his brush with death had changed the way he lived, he replied: “Not at all.”

Pacino details the experience in his upcoming memoir, Sonny Boy. His latest film – titled Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness – premiered at the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival last week.