Antonio Banderas Bounces Back From Heart Attack

Antonio Banderas joined his girlfriend Nicole Kimpel and family members in Madrid for Holy Week observances — looking fully recovered from the heart attack he suffered in January!

Antonio says he has quit smoking since the health scare — and will work at a slower pace from now on. “If there is something good that came from all of this, it is that I suddenly stopped smoking, without needing pills or anything like that!” boasted the 56-year-old star.

The actor was out with his much-younger lover Nicole Kimpel — a 36-year-old Dutch investment advisor – but said that ex-wife Melanie Griffith has been calling him “practically every day” since he was rushed to a hospital near his home in Surrey, England, by ambulance on Jan. 26.

“I’m going to keep working," Antonio said, "but I’m going to do it at another rhythm. I am going to give myself space, take time between productions, and — above all — make the jump which I have yearned for a long time, and put myself behind the camera!”

But the star of films like "The Mask of Zorro" is being a little too dashing, as far as some pals are concerned. Just a week after entering the clinic, he posted a photo of himself climbing a rock wall! “What was he thinking?” a stunned source said to The National ENQUIRER. “I think he’s in denial!”