Sylvester Stallone, long-time friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the actor will “be back” following open heart surgery.
Speaking to TMZ as he left a venue in Bel Air on Friday, the Rocky star said: “Arnold’s a strong man, he’ll be back bigger and better than ever.
“He’s a brave man. He’s doing great.“
Waking words
The former governor of California, 70, underwent surgery in the state on Thursday to replace an aging pulmonic valve.
His publicist, Daniel Ketchell, confirmed on Friday that the surgery had been successful.
Schwarzenegger is currently in a stable condition in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.
“Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually ‘I’m back’, so he is in good spirits,” Ketchell tweeted.
Update: @Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually “I’m back”, so he is in good spirits. https://t.co/bJ4pxqS8l6
— Daniel Ketchell (@ketch) March 30, 2018
Heart defect
The actor has a congenital heart defect and had undergone a pulmonic valve replacement in 1997, he added.
The valve had simply reached the end of its “life expectancy” of 10-15 years and needed to be swapped out for a less invasive catheter valve.
