The role of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane that Kelsey Grammer played on the comedy Cheers and its spinoff Frasier is what makes him most well-known. The Primetime Emmy Award winner’s situation, however, took a terrifying turn when he almost died of a heart attack.

The 66-year-old, who has already received three Golden Globe nominations for his work in television, began to sense something wasn’t quite right after paddle surfing with his wife one morning back in 2008.

When Grammer got back to his house in Hawaii, he was immediately transported to the hospital, where doctors first thought he had had a “mild” heart attack.

However, while discussing the ordeal a few weeks later, Grammer remembered an entirely different incident.

A Grammer spokeswoman at the time, Stan Rosenfield, stated: “Grammer was immediately brought to a local hospital where it was confirmed that he had a small heart attack.”

Yet seven weeks after the news of his heart issues broke, Grammar admitted to having a heart attack in an interview.

He told the news program, “They had to blast me twice and start me over from scratch.”

“Oh my god. I must maintain my grip. I have way too much stuff to deal with. I have to look out for the family.”

When portraying the tragedy of the situation, the actor was completely open with his descriptions. “It felt,” he continued, “like someone was genuinely trying to rip my chest open with the jaws of life.”

Grammer, who had never previously experienced heart problems, did spend some time in a rehab facility after developing an alcohol addiction. The star then developed a cocaine addiction upon his release.

Grammer had just learned that his newest sitcom, Back to You, would be canceled by the Fox network after just one season when he suffered a heart attack.

“Obviously you play the hand you’re dealt, and it has been a pretty fascinating hand lately; it has been challenging,” Grammar said in response to the cancellation of his newest show.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, blockages in one of the blood veins that carry blood to your heart are the cause of heart attacks.

Plaque, a sticky substance that can accumulate on the interior of your arteries, is a common cause of blockages.

When plaque deposits inside the coronary arteries rupture, a blood clot may become lodged where the rupture took place.

If the clot later narrows the artery, the heart may become oxygen- and blood-starved, leading to a heart attack.

Other less common causes of a heart attack, according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), include:

Unplanned dissection of the coronary arteries (SCAD)

Drug addiction

Hypoxia (a sudden drop in oxygen levels in the body).

A heart attack is a medical emergency because a sustained lack of blood to the heart can badly harm the heart muscle, endangering the patient’s life.

Understanding the signs of a heart attack, which can include the following, is essential.

Chest discomfort can seem as though a large object is pressing or squeezing it, and it can spread to the jaw, neck, arms, and back.

Breathing difficulty

Feeling light, dizzy, or both

A crippling sense of anxiety.

The BHF notes that, because everyone perceives pain differently, it is possible to have a heart attack without exhibiting all of these symptoms. Usually, diabetes patients and the elderly have different symptoms.

The degree of chest discomfort is not a significant factor in assessing whether a person is having a heart attack.