In the interview, George shared his fears after doctors first discovered the issues with his heart.
“If I could go from being absolutely on top of the world to being told ‘the bottom part of your heart isn’t working’, I kept thinking in my head, ‘Well, what if the top half stops working overnight?”‘
He said he was worrying about his family and his girlfriend, actress Maisie Smith, 23, in case he did not pull through.
“When you get told that, you really realise what your responsibilities are. I’ve got a partner, Maisie, I’ve got a family. I’ve got two little nephews and all of that stuff really comes to the front of it all.”
He pinpointed 13 December as the “worst” day, as his blood pressure and heart rate both dropped.
“It was quite close that night, it really felt like my neck was closing up and that’s when the sort of panic really kicked in. I felt like I was dying,” he said.
But his surgery date was then confirmed for 18 December, leaving him “absolutely buzzing”.
The operation took around three hours, and he was greeted by his girlfriend when he woke up.
“The first face I saw was Maisie’s and I remember that being really nice – like that was the first time I actually felt like a real person again, and I had a heart,” he said.
