Brian May’s heart attack mistaken by wife as over-exercising
Brian May was offered a cup of tea by his wife when she mistook his heart attack for exercising too hard.
Brian May was offered a cup of tea by his wife when she mistook his heart attack for exercising too hard.
Actress Anita Dobson, 73, who has been married to the Queen guitarist since 2000, admitted she thought the 75-year-old’s pain was the result of melodrama and hypochondria, so thought a hot drink may have solved his complaints.
She said during an appearance on ITV’s ‘Loose Women’ this week: “I didn’t accuse him – what I thought was he’d just done a big workout because he was getting fit for touring.
“You know, we’re all a bit melodramatic: ‘Oh I’ve got a terrible headache, I’m sure it's cancer!’
“And he just said, ‘I think I'm having a heart attack!’, and I went, ‘No, you’ve probably just over-exerted yourself, you’ve overexercised. I’ll make you a cup of tea!’
“And he went, ‘No, this is not a tea moment, I think I’m having a heart attack... for real!’
“It wasn’t till the next day that we realised how bad it was when we went to the doctors.
“The doctor screeched round and took him to the hospital and put three stents in.”
Brian told in May 2020 how he was rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack, while he was recovering from a ripped muscle and trapped nerve as a result of a gardening injury.
The guitarist, who is now fully recovered, told fans in an Instagram video: “I told you I had a ripped muscle and that was the way I was diagnosed and we thought it was like a bizarre gardening accident... but anyway, it turned out to be not really the case.”
He said that after his agony was diagnosed as a torn buttock muscle, he became worried after he was still in pain a week later.
Brian added: “I mean real agony – I wanted to jump at some points. I could not believe the pain. And people are saying, ‘That’s not like a ripped muscle’, so eventually I had another MRI.”
The results showed Brian had a trapped sciatic nerve which he said was so “excruciating” it felt like a screwdriver was being twisted into his flesh, but in the middle of being treated for the condition he went into cardiac arrest.
It turned out he had three arteries that were so congested they were close to blocking his blood supply, but reassured his followers: “I’m a lot better now. I’m free of that terrible pain that actually destroys your mind.”
