Arnold Schwarzenegger Breaks Silence on Open Heart Surgery

Arnold Schwarzenegger underwent emergency heart surgery last week, and he’s broken his silence on social media about the procedure.

First, his reps told TMZ that the surgery was “to replace a pulmonic valve that was originally replaced due to a congenital heart defect in 1997. That 1997 replacement valve was never meant to be permanent and has outlived its life expectancy, so he chose to replace it yesterday through a less-invasive catheter valve replacement. During that procedure, an open-heart surgery team was prepared … in case the catheter procedure was unable to be performed.”

Moments ago, Arnold tweeted, “It’s true: I’m back! I went to sleep expecting to wake up with a small incision and woke up with a big one – but guess what? I woke up, and that’s something to be thankful for. Thank you to the doctors & nurses. And I’m truly filled with gratitude for all of the kind messages.”