Mellencamp, the singer of the hit song Jack & Diane, was rushed to hospital in Indiana after noticing that he didn’t “feel well” after a show at Jones Beach New York in 1992.
“You’re talking to the luckiest guy you’re ever going to talk to,” Mellencamp, 70, told People magazine in January as he looked back over his eventful career.
“I had lots of doctors going, ‘John, your cholesterol’s way too high and you smoke.’ I’d go, ‘f it,’” Mellencamp said.
“I learned my lesson after I had a heart attack at 42.”
Since the ordeal, he has been mindful of his health—although he still smokes.
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Drugs and alcohol were something Mellencamp quit back in 1972 so after his heart emergency, poor eating habits were the next to go.
An unhealthy diet that is high in fat is one of the main causes of heart attack as it can make the arteries supplying blood to the heart thicken with the buildup of cholesterol and become blocked.
In a 2010 interview with Men’s Health, the elderly rocker and his wife Elaine revealed that she now picks the food in the house.
“I knew that the cheeseburgers at McDonald’s were unhealthy, but I thought at least the fish sandwiches had to be good for you!” said Mellencamp.
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In response, Elaine said: “I’m the only one cooking now, so he doesn’t have much of a choice.
“He doesn’t have to like it, but it’s the only thing he’s getting.”
Unlike many artists who get pulled into substance misuse, Mellencamp believes that being unhealthy loses its cool as you get older.
“It’s funny and attractive to be 25 years old and be someplace high and drunk. But when you get to a certain age, it’s not funny anymore. It’s not cute, not sexy. Nothing good about it,” he said.
Mellencamp recalled the moment when Indiana doctors told him he had a heart attack on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2015.
“The [doctor] looked at me and he said, ‘You’ve had a heart attack.’ I went nuts.
“I called him everything in the book. … He said, ‘John, you can say whatever you want to me or act any way you want, but a first-year medical student can tell you you’ve had a heart attack.’”
If you have the symptoms of a heart attack, it is vital that you call 999.
These symptoms include coughing or wheezing, chest pain and pain that spreads from your chest to elsewhere, and sweating.