Kevin Smith has learned to live in the moment following his near-fatal heart attack in 2018.
While attending the San Diego Comic-Con 2024 on Saturday, July 27, the filmmaker, 53, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE and gave an update on his mental health after going to intensive therapy at Arizona’s Sierra Tucson treatment center last year. The 4:30 Movie director said that his mental health is “good” right now.
“I’m holding on,” he tells PEOPLE. “It’s coming up on a year and a half since I got out. And when you’re in there, it’s very easy to stay healthy because you’re surrounded by people who are doing the same. And then the moment you leave, you’re back in the real world and the rat race begins anew.”
Smith says that, since suffering a “massive” widowmaker heart attack in 2018, he is constantly working to prioritize his health and appreciating the moment he’s in.
“It is struggle — not a difficult f—ing life-or-death struggle, but it’s a struggle — to remember to breathe and place yourself in the here and now. Be mindful, not live in the past, not worry about the future, but just be right here,” he says. “And right here is Comic-Con. Nothing wrong with that.”
“A few years ago, there’s a chance that I didn’t walk away from a heart attack and that would’ve been my last Comic-Con. I’ve gotten six since then,” he continues. “I work under the assumption I’m living on borrowed time, so I just try to enjoy it.”
Kevin Smith.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Back in 2022, Smith told PEOPLE that his heart attack was “the greatest gift I ever had.”
“Not only did it save my life, make me go vegan and go healthier and stuff, but it gave me the spine for Clerks III,” he said at the time.
Clerks III is heavily influenced by his heart attack, which Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) also suffers in the film.
One such autobiographical scene features Randal on an operating table during the health scare as the theme song of Degrassi: The Next Generation begins playing in his head. “That was based on real life,” Smith said.
“I was making peace with the fact that this could be it,” he recounted of when the doctor told him he had an 80 percent chance of dying. “And so at one point I started singing what I feel is one of the most positively reinforcing songs ever recorded, which is the opening theme song.”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings